Caged: Past, Present, and Future
by hippielicious
Summary: Darren's replacement has been born, but many complications to Desmond Tiny's plan have surfaced. His replacement has a mind of her own and is determined to find out what is happening to her when she meets a certain red-headed vampire at a freak show.
1. Chapter 2

I was almost ready for school when I looked into the mirror. My black hair was perfect and went just past my shoulders with an imperfect cut. My brown eyes looked alert and ready for anything. I gave my reflection a quick smirk and ran to the bus stop, which was about 6 blocks away.

Outside of the school I met up with my 3 best friends on the lawn. Seth, Miles, and Luna. All taller than me, yet none of them through with puberty, as I was. (If I wanted to, I could probably pass for 16!) Luna ran over and gave me both a hug and a warning. "You better stay clear of Adam. He's looking for you, trying to get you back again apparently." She backed away from me and some of her caramel colored hair brushed my face as a short gust of wind blew.

"Well, if any of you guys see him tell him no, thanks. A couple of my ribs haven't fully healed and I believe his groin still needs a break from last time," I said bitterly. "I can't believe that jerk."

Miles gave me a mischievous grin that seemed even more mischievous because of his flaming red hair. He said, "I hear you made him sterile the night you broke up with him. It's nice to know that my gal pal can pack a punch and defend herself against over-controlling and violent _ex-_boyfriends. Especially someone who is a good 6 inches taller and 50 more pounds of muscle."

I returned his grin, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, right? And hey, you're 7 inches taller than me, and I could still _kick your butt._" I'm not that short, but it seems that everyone I know is taller than me. I mean, seriously, is 5" 2' that short? Not really.

He smiled. "Referring to your former sentence, only for you, Arden."

Seth looked over at us with a look that was undoubtedly supposed to be mysterious. "Well, I have something that will cheer everyone up, but it's going to have to wait until lunch." He gave us all a demonic grin worthy of a horror film. While I hated to admit it, he was right. The warning bell had just rung and none of us had stopped by our lockers. We all gave each other hugs and ran into the boredom that was the 7th grade curriculum.

We sat at the lunch table waiting for Seth in anticipation. When he finally made his way to the table he took his good time doing it. "Hurry up already, Mr. Dramatic, I think I just turned 20," Luna yelled.

Seth looked at us through his dark brown bangs and smiled. "Impatient, are we?"

The rest of us yelled "Yes!" simultaneously.

"I have found the perfect thing for us to do this Saturday night." He opened a flyer that read:

CIRQUE DU FREAK FOR ONE WEEK ONLY-CIRQUE DU FREAK!!

SEE:

SIVE AND SEERSA- THE TWISTING TWINS!

THE SNAKE-BOY! THE WOLF-MAN! GERTHA TEETH!

LARTEN CREPSLEY AND HIS PERFORMING SPIDER-

MADAM OCTA!

ALEXANDER RIBS! THE BEARDED-LADY!

RHAMUS TWOBELLIES- WORLD'S FATTEST MAN!

NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED!

SOME RESTRICTIONS APPLY!

There was a picture of a snake and a spider and an address to buy the tickets near Seth's house. After we all had read it, Seth quickly slipped the flyer back into his pocket, so we wouldn't get caught by the lunchroom monitor.

"How much are the tickets?" Luna asked the question we all wanted to know.

"Twenty-three big ones!" All of our eyes widened. That was a lot. Especially for Seth, whose mom didn't make much money.

I sighed. "If someone has a little bit of trouble, I could lend a few bucks."

"No way, Arden, if anybody is going to be lending money to someone they know won't pay them back, it will be the rich kid. Me." Miles insisted.

"Okay, confession time," announced Seth. "How much cash does everyone have? I only have 5 bucks stashed away so I might have to take you up on your offer Miles."

"Twenty," sighed Luna.

"Sixty," I said matter-o-factly. Though, I didn't want to give it to anyone. There might be souvenirs.

"Okay, so, three for Luna, and eighteen for Seth," said Miles. We all smiled now that the money was in order.

"Wait, how'd you get the flyer Seth?" The suspicious question slipped out of my mouth.

"I was out past curfew, taking a walk, when I ran into that Crepsley dude in an alley. He told me about the Cirque. He was super creepy. Your type Arden. It seems all you can get is the creeps and the crazies." Now he was getting over-dramatic. He sighed sadly after he said the latter sentence as if I were some poor starving kid in Africa that he couldn't help. I rolled my eyes. I knew it was all in good fun.

"Okay, after school, at 4, we all meet up at Seth's house with the cash, and he shows up with the tickets at school tomorrow." I already had a plan. Even though Miles's house was a little closer to the location, we knew his parents were the inquisitive type and likely to snoop, and find out about the show. Bad. "We'll get tickets for Saturday, cause tomorrow's Friday." We all grinned like we were alive during World War Two and had a fool-proof plan to kill Hitler. Life couldn't get any better at that point.


	2. Chapter 3

I'd just gotten home from Seth's house and was excited to see the tickets tomorrow after school. Zula- my little sister- was playing with her dolls, dad had just gotten home from work, and mom wasn't home yet. I walked slowly to my room and ran my index finger over my mini library of books. I picked something random and tried to read.

It was no use. I couldn't concentrate with the uncertainty of the tickets. I was relieved when there was a knock at my bedroom door. It was Zula.

"Spill it," she demanded.

"I swear I don't know what you're talking about."

"Please, Arden. Mom and dad might be blind to agitation as subtle as this, but I'm not." I smiled at her intuition. Zula was only 10 but she was cool, and obviously very smart. I was about to tell her everything, when I heard the front door open. Mom was home.

I said quickly to Zula, "You're right. I'll tell you everything after dinner."

After dinner, we quietly slipped into my room. Or, I did. Zula thundered up the steps. "Ugh, don't do that," she begged.

"Do what?" I asked, confused.

"That thing where you move so silently and quickly it's as if you don't even move." Hmmm. She had never mentioned this to me before. Nobody had. I wonder if anybody else noticed it or if it was just her. I would remember this for future reference. "So, what's up? It's something big, isn't it?"

I gave her a small smile and nodded. "I'll be going to a freak show on Saturday."

"A freak show?" I quickly explained what I had seen on the flier and what our plan was. I knew Zula wouldn't snitch. "I just don't know if they're going to let you in, Arden. It sounds like something for adults."

I nodded. "But, don't forget, they're doing something illegal. I don't think they can be too picky about their customers. Besides, that Crepsley dude gave Seth the flier. And, I'm pretty sure my friends and I can pass for a little bit older than 13. I mean, Miles is 5" 9', and Seth is 5" 6'. You know I can pass for 16 even though I'm so short."

"Just because those guys seems tall to you, doesn't mean they seem tall to adults."

"Oh well. If we can't get in, what are they going to do? Call the police? But, if they're selling anything there, I promise to bring you a souvenir okay bud?" she grinned and gave me three big nods. "It's Saturday night so I'll have to spend the night at somebody's house if I'm going to sneak out."

"Seth's?" she asked giving me a look that said she suspected we were more than friends.

"Why not? It's not like we're together or anything. And we never will be." I gave her a final look that clearly got across the message.

At lunch the next day, Seth brought us both good and bad news. "Sorry, guys. I got the tickets. But, only two of them. So, let's decide who's gonna go." We all moaned in sadness. Each of us only had a 50% chance of going at the moment.

"Seth's going. He risked his skin getting the tickets. The only question is, who else goes? How about we fight for it?" I suggested. 33.3% chance now.

"No way Arden, you'll eat us for dinner. How about we draw straws?" complained Miles.

Luna shook her head. "Too much luck involved. I don't like it." That was probably because she had rotten luck.

"Don't worry ladies and gent. I already have a fair solution to our little predicament." Seth took out two little pieces of paper that looked very similar to the Cirque tickets. "I'll throw these fakes and the real ticket in the air and whoever gets the ticket comes with me. Miles will you still give money if one of the winners needs it?" Miles nodded. "Okay. Arden and Luna, I will give you your money back if you don't win. On the count of three, I'll throw the tickets. One. Two. Three!"

He threw the tickets in the air and while the others were running around like idiots, a voice told me exactly where the ticket would be. This voice had a terribly frightening presence. No, not frightening, frightening is like confronting a shark, this presence was pure unadulterated evil. I remembered this presence for the future, sensing that I would need it, and ran for the ticket, knowing that I was about to meet my destiny.

I slowly picked up the ticket and called, "I have it!" All the others turned their heads. Miles and Luna turned theirs with disappointment, Seth with indifference. He didn't like me any more than he did Luna or Miles.

"Okay, Arden."

"I'll see if I can convince my parents to let me spend the night at your house. Sneaking out of my house would be like trying to sneak out of Alcatraz." He nodded.

"I'll talk to my mom."

That afternoon when mom and dad were home I asked if I could stay at Seth's house on Saturday. I knew it was a touchy subject for them. I could understand, though. I don't think any decent parents could feel good about their daughter spending the night at a boy's house. I'd done it once before and taken a polygraph test afterward to prove I hadn't done anything they didn't want me to do. I hoped that it wouldn't be such a chore this time to convince them.

"Look, mom, I've spent the night at Seth's before and I passed the polygraph test with flying colors. You know me. And you know that I'm not interested in Seth in any way romantically."

"I trust you, Arden. But, Seth doesn't exactly seem like the kind of boy you should be associating with." Oh, so now she was bringing this up? Okay, it was time to hit below the belt. I had a trump card now.

"Well, he treats me with more respect than the guy you insisted that I go out with." I was reminding her how 'awesome' Adam had been to me. I pulled the sleeves of my sweater up to show the scratches, bruising, and scarring that hadn't fully healed yet. I knew that many of the scars would never heal. They were pretty bad and I knew that bringing up Adam would make my mom feel guilty. Some of the nastier ones were from when I had broken up with him two weeks ago. "I think I can defend myself against Seth, should he have a sudden and drastic change in personality. Adam is taller and wider than he is. _Seth_ has helped me through these last two weeks and the two months of abuse before that." I gave her a steely look. She had thought that the bruises and scratches had been fake or self -induced. She had thought I was lying about the abuse, simply because I hadn't wanted to date Adam, and she had insisted. She looked hurt by my comment and I had forgiven her for not believing me, mostly, but I had to go to the Cirque. If that meant playing dirty, so be it.

"Fine, you can go, but you are taking that polygraph test again."

"Gladly."

I was reading when I heard a knock at my door. "Come in." Zula stepped in. "Hey hon. What's up?"

"You really upset mom earlier. She thinks you hate her. I heard her crying and talking to dad through the vent." She could hear anything going on in the living room through the vent on the floor in her room.

"I know. I'll make it up somehow."

"Do you hate her?"

"Every once and a while. When I think about what happened. The only thing that really upset me was the fact that she didn't trust me. And apparently still doesn't trust me."

"Mom and dad have kept a lot from me. What happened?" I looked at her. Nobody had asked me for the details. Not about the broken arm. Or how I got the broken ribs. Or about any of the other painful injuries I'd sustained. We hadn't talked to the police or anything, but I had told every girl at the school and I'm sure that soon enough all the girls in the city would know about him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. Dad told me not to -"

"No. It's okay sweetie." I sighed. "He was okay the first few dates. We didn't have a single thing in common, but I did it to please mom. But then, on the fourth date he wanted to kiss me and I refused. After the date, on the way out to the parking lot, he punched me a few times in the gut and told me that on our next date I would kiss him. I knew that I didn't stand a chance fighting him, so I didn't even try to fight back. I understood that I would only get injured more. When I got home I told mom and she said I was lying. The next day I told Luna, Miles, and Seth about it. We told the principal but he didn't believe us because 'Adam is such a model student here.'" I took on a deep stupid sounding voice to mock my principal. "They helped me get enough money to get a really good self defense instructor. I had told mom that I was taking drum lessons. I told Adam that too. My instructor noticed the bruises and knew exactly why I was taking that class. He was real helpful. Eventually, even though I had been absent from many classes because of my injuries, I was ready to take on Adam. I broke up with him, and as you can imagine, he didn't take it well. We got into a huge, violent fight and both sustained a lot of injuries but eventually I got the better of him and we were officially broken up. All my friends helped me through that every step of the way, and are still helping me avoid Adam." She could tell this was hard for me and gave me a hug for telling her.

"What was the worst part?" she asked.

"The worst part was knowing that I could be bent to someone's will so easily. The second worst part is knowing that the first guy I kissed was a total jerk who I didn't even like."

"I hope you like The Cirque tomorrow," she said, quickly changing the subject.

I smiled. "Me too, kiddo."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."


	3. Chapter 4

The next day I tried really hard to keep myself busy until I was dropped off at Seth's at three. I cleaned my room, cleared out my closet, rearranged the books in my bookcase – I always did this to calm myself down – and even obsessed over what I would wear to the show. I ended up wearing an inconspicuous black hoodie and jeans.

I was so happy when three o'clock finally came around, I practically danced out the door and to the car. Dad seemed a little suspicious about my enthusiasm, but I completely ignored that. I'd arranged for dad to pick me up at noon tomorrow, and though he was usually pretty casual, I was sure that he would be there at noon precisely. I basically just hung around Seth's for six hours. He has all sorts of macabre comics about vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc. We both updated each other on the latest news we'd heard or read on those subjects. After a few hours of this, we switched to a more normal activity. We logged onto his itunes account and he gave me some of his songs.

Finally, at a little after nine, we started walking to an old, abandoned theater near my house. It took us a long time to reach the old theater because it was on the other side of the small town, closer to my house than Seth's. It was a forty-five minute walk in the rain. Seth complained, but I didn't. I love the rain. A little rain never hurt anyone and I'd much rather have an overcast day than a sunny one. The moon was almost full and it was dark outside. Along with the rain, this made as fitting a setting as any to be walking to an illegal freak show at almost ten at night. Seth told me that the theater had been shut down because a kid fell off the balcony and died, but my dad told me it had just shut down because of poor business and rats. I can't help but think the two are related.

As we approached the familiar sight of The Strand – the old theater – we both grinned at each other. We had made it with time to spare. We walked inside and Seth was surprised by how cold it was in the theater.

"Why is it so cold in here?"

"Multiple reasons. No heating for a decade. Poor insulation. And the fact that nobody is really inside it, ever. Human bodies warm places up. We sometimes have problems with heating in my house because it's so old. It was probably made around the time that this theater was made – "

"Can I help you two?" somebody asked behind us. We had been scared enough already but the voice made us flinch.

When we turned around we saw a super tall guy. I mean _really_ tall. We're talking like, 8 ft. here. His hands were bony and his eyes were like two dark coals on his face. His eyes looked familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen them before.

"Isn't it rather late for two little kids like yourselves to be out and about?" he asked. His lips were barely moving, while his voice was deep and croaky like a frog's.

I wasn't afraid of him for some reason. He seemed so eerily familiar it was scary. "We're here to see the Cirque Du Freak," I told him with confidence.

The man kept looking at us funny. Especially me. "_Are_ you?" The man nodded slowly. "Do you have tickets?"

"Yes," Seth said, and he showed him his ticket.

"Very good," the man muttered. He paused, then turned to me and said: "How about you, … Arden? Do you have a ticket?"

"Yes." I showed it to him and then stopped. He knew my name! How? And why did he pause before saying it? "How do you know my name?" I whispered. I hoped to that I didn't look like I was scared, though danger alarms were ringing everywhere in my head. He smiled at me. It seemed genuine, like he was happy to see me. His teeth looked terrible, it was as if he had never brushed in his life.

" My name is Mr. Tall. I own the Cirque Du Freak." Mr. Tall. Fitting. "I know lots of things," he said softly. I could almost pick up on sadness in this statement. "I know where you live. I know Seth doesn't like his mommy or daddy. Hmm, an abandoned child."

"How would you know? Did you abandon a child?" I blurted out the question completely without thinking. As far as the second question goes, I have only one explanation: vibes. Tacky? Yes. True? Also, yes.

He looked alarmed at my question and I knew I was right. Scary. He turned to me. "I know you didn't tell your parents you were coming here. And I know how you won your ticket." Now it was my turn to look alarmed. I didn't say anything because I knew he was unlikely to tell me how he knew so much about us. "Follow me"

He turned a corner, only a few of his giant steps ahead of us. When we turned that same corner, we saw that he was behind a table, wearing a red hat and a pair of gloves. "Tickets please." We handed him our tickets and he _ate them!_ How unsanitary. "Very, well. You may go in now. We normally don't welcome children, but I can see you are two fine, courageous young people. We will make an exception." He pointed down the corridor and we walked into a huge room. We got decent seats and looked at each other with scared, but excited expressions. I could tell that I wasn't the only one freaked out by Mr. Tall.

"Do you think that dude can read minds?" I asked.

"Probably," he mused. "What was up with you back there? Why did you ask that guy if he abandoned his kid?"

"Because I thought he did, and I was right. I could see it on his face."

"You are one strange , Arden."

"I could say the same about you, Seth." We smiled at each other. The show was about to begin.

**Author's Note: I am so excited about this! I only submitted the last three chapters yesterday and I already have three reviews (all positive), one story alert, and one favorite story! I am so happy that people are reviewing. On a similar subject, I am currently working on multiple fanfictions right now and the ones that get the most reviews, story alerts, and so on, get updated the fastest. So, keep the reviews coming! hippielicious**


	4. Chapter 5

They brought the first freak in. A lot of people screamed, though I didn't. I was never afraid of animals. But my muscles tensed, ready for a speedy getaway if needed. I assumed that the animal in the cage was the wolf man. He acted as if he was rabid, with yellow eyes and red teeth. Mr. Tall stepped forward onto the stage. He explained about how old the circus was. And how its goal was to terrify us. One of the women who brought the cage forward was hypnotizing the wolf man while the other said, "You must be very quiet. The wolf man will not be able to hurt you as long as we control him, but a loud sound could wake him up, and then he would be deadly!" They stepped down from the stage and began to bring the wolf man around the theater. Seth and I touched his fur! It was spiky and after we touched it we mouthed to each other, "weird".

After the wolf man's act was over, Alexander Ribs stepped in. He was so skinny you would think he would collapse. Some people were weirded- out by his contortionist act, but I thought it was fascinating. I was amazed when he began playing songs on his ribs. He even managed to play some stuff by Coldplay!

Then, Rhamus Twobellies came in. He was by far my least favorite act. When everyone was calling out his or her guesses for how long it would take him, I guessed the lowest. "Nine minutes!" I called out. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. But, as it turned out, I was closest. He ate all that food _four minutes, and fifty-five seconds._ It was unbelievable. My prize for being closest was some fur clippings from the wolf man. I thought it was a pretty good prize.

There was a short intermission after Rhamus Twobellies. It was exactly what I needed so that I wouldn't puke from such a disgusting act. Neither Seth nor I bought anything during the first intermission. We figured the show could only get better.

The next act was the bearded lady, but she had no beard! Mr. Tall stood behind the woman and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very special act. Truska here is new to our family. She is one of the most incredible performers I have ever seen, with a truly unique talent." After speaking he walked off the stage. She was a beautiful woman and I could see that almost every male in the room knew this too! All of them looked very nervous, including Seth. I elbowed him in the ribs to bring him back to reality. And the reality was that he didn't have a chance with that woman. As her beard began to grow, my mouth dropped. That was something. She could be a bearded lady, but not 24/7.

Seth whispered in my ear, "Jealous?" I rolled my eyes in response and he snickered quietly. What was even more amazing about this woman's act was that no pair of scissors could cut the beard! As her hair grew back into her face the audience erupted in applause, myself included.

Hans Hands was an interesting act, though not as exciting as Truska's. Though I had to smirk when he beat all those men on his hands in that sprint. The gymnastics feats were pretty cool too. While the act was enjoyable, it wasn't the type of thing that got your adrenaline going.

Mr. Tall stepped out onto the stage before the next act came up. "Ladies and gentlemen, our next act is another unique and perplexing one. It can also be quite dangerous, so I ask that you make no noise and do not clap until you are told it is safe." We could all see how serious he was and knew to do as we were told. "Mr. Crepsley and Madam Octa!" he softly shouted. Hmm. So this was the man who gave Seth the flier.

The man was very thin, and very tall, maybe 6ft. 7. He easily would have dwarfed me. He was in desperate need of some sun. It looked as if he had never heard the word 'sunlight' or 'vitamin D'. His orange hair was really short, but his hairline wasn't receding. If I had to guess his age, I would have guessed that he was in his late thirties. But, the most defining feature on this man was the long scar running down his left cheek. His clothes were blood red.

I looked at Seth to sarcastically say that this man was my dream man, but Seth looked like he was about ready to wet his pants. He looked seriously freaked out. I didn't say anything, I thought that maybe he would snap out of it.

In a close second to Rhamus Twobellies, Mr. Crepsley's act was one of my least favorite acts. I hate spiders. It is as simple as that. His, spider was huge, hairy, and extremely poisonous. I could feel a few tears leak out of my eyes when she killed the poor goat. I very nearly got sick when he had the spider in his mouth. I was also very fearful for this man's life. I was thinking _first the goat, now him too?_ I can't say how relieved I was when that spider crawled out of his mouth. I applauded more than anyone in the audience, probably. His act was brave, and the only one of two where the performer actually had to risk their life.

I gave Seth a poke after the performance to see if he was all right. He didn't move, so I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, and no." I gave him a confused look. "I'll tell you after the show."

During the second intermission, I bought two spiders, and four candy webs. I started sticking stuff in the large purse I had brought so that I wouldn't drop anything.

I thought the Gertha Teeth act was amazing! It seemed her teeth were immune to plaque as well as an electric saw. They were really white even after the act. Just the thought of her act made my teeth sore though.

I thought that Sive and Seersa were interesting enough. Though, not as good as many of the other acts I had seen today.

After their act Mr. Tall told us there was more to buy at the back of the hall and to recommend the show to our friends and so on.

As we were all walking out, everyone started screaming because there was a snake on the balcony and it was coming towards us! I was as excited as could be. I relished the chance to say I touched a deadly snake! But then, I light came on in the snake's face and it stopped. We turned and saw the snake boy on the stage. I stared at all the beautiful scales on him that sparkled. Ladies, this is as close to a sparkling Edward Cullen as it got. The boy wasn't handsome, but certainly not ugly either. His act was amazing to watch. He even stuck his head in the snake's mouth!

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, really is the end." Mr. Tall called from the stage. He leapt from the stage and vanished in mid-air.

I bought some more candy as I was leaving. I'd give some to Seth (who didn't want to borrow more money from Miles), Luna, Miles, and Zula.

Mr. Tall was standing at the back, holding the curtains open, smiling at everyone. The smile widened when we approached. I noticed that his eyes were mostly trained on me.

"Well," he asked, "did you enjoy the show?"

"It was indescribable," I said.

"You weren't scared?" he questioned.

"If anybody said they weren't scared during that show, I would call them a liar."

He laughed, "You're a tough pair."

_**Mr. C's P.O.V. :**_

I could hear both of them walking out of the theater.

When those children stepped out of the theater, the boy said, "Go home by yourself."

"Not a chance. What are you doing?" Hmmm. The girl seemed loyal to him.

"Something dangerous," he answered. It seemed my suspicions were correct.

"Sounds like fun. I'm coming." The stubborn look she gave him told him that she was going, whether he liked it or not. If only she knew who and what this boy was confronting.

"That dude who gave me the flier…"

"Yes?"

"He's a vampire." The girl just stared at him for a minute. At first I thought that she had assumed he was crazy. But she was just thinking.

"You're either, crazy, paranoid, or right. And I'm inclined to think that it's the latter option. I'm going with you. You need backup." He sighed and apparently was letting her come with him. "Lead the way, Captain." They started walking together back into the theater… to confront a vampire! They might both be crazy.


	5. Chapter 6

**Still Mr. C's P.O.V.**

The children were snooping around the stage. There was something odd about the . She reminded me of someone. No. Two people. There was something about the way she walked. And she walked so quietly. While it was more than possible for a human to walk that silently, it was certainly uncommon. Most humans thundered around when they walked, not caring if they made any noise.

I smirked. It was time to scare them. "Are you looking for me?" I asked. After the question, I swooped down to the stage.

The boy jumped but, for what it's worth, the only flinched. "I saw you watching me," I said. "You gasped aloud when you first saw me. Why?" The boy stepped in front while the stood silently and alertly behind him. She seemed to have a body-guard like disposition to her. She didn't look scared, like the boy did, but she did look cautious. I could tell she wasn't going to chance anything.

"B-b-b-because I kn-kn-know who you a-are," the boy stuttered.

"I am Larten Crepsley."

"No. I know who you really are."

"Oh? Tell me, little boy, who am I, really?"

"Your real name is Vur Horston," Seth said. My jaw dropped. How could this boy know that I had gone by that name before? The boy continued. "_You're a vampire._" I became even more astonished. This boy _knew._ How could he know? I could only hope he did not know much more. I decided to play along.

"So, I have been discovered," I said. I was smiling now. Putting on a brave mask. "I should not be surprised. It had to happen eventually. Tell me, boy, who sent you?"

"Nobody."

I frowned. "Come, boy, do not play games. Who are you working for? Who put you onto me and what do they want?"

"I'm not working for anybody. I've go lots of books and magazines at home about vampires and monsters. There was a picture of you in one of them."

"A _picture?_" I asked suspiciously.

"A painting. It was done in 1903, in Paris. You were with a rich woman. The story said the two of you were almost married, but she found out you were a vampire and dumped you." The then looked at me with a sad expression on her face. Did she feel sorry for me? I had been upset about the woman after she had 'dumped' me. But I got over it and soon realized that if she truly had loved me she would have at least given me the benefit of the doubt.

"As good a reason as any. Her friends thought she had invented a fantastic story to make herself look better."

"But it wasn't a story was it?"

"No, it was not. Though it might have been better for you if it had been!" Neither child blinked at my threat.

"You won't hurt me," the boy said.

"Why not?"

"If we turn up or missing, the police will have to investigate. You wouldn't like that. Lots of police asking questions, coming here in the _daytime_…" The looked at the boy in confusion. As if what he had said surprised her.

I was disgusted with this boy. "Children! I children. What is it you want? Money? Jewels? The rights to publish my story?"

"I want to join you." What? This boy wanted to join me? I was now seriously considering the fact that this boy might be crazy. The looked every bit as shocked as I was. It was only now that I wondered why she hadn't spoken. All she did was look on our conversation and occasionally show shock on her face.

"What do you mean?"

" I want to become a vampire. I want you to make me a vampire and teach me your ways."

"You are crazy!"

"No, I'm not."

"I cannot turn a child into a vampire. I would be ed by the Vampire Generals if I did."

"What are Vampire Generals?"

"Never you mind. All you need to know is, it cannot be done. We do not children. It creates too many problems."

"So don't change me right away. That's okay. I don't mind waiting. I can be an apprentice. I know vampires often have assistants who are half-human, half-vampire. Let me be one. I'll work hard and prove myself, and when I'm old enough…" I thought about this matter, and while I was thinking. I showed off a little bit. I snapped my fingers, and to them it must have seemed as if the chair just flew over to me. I sat down. I considered the fact that if I only ed the boy, the would know. And taking care of two children would be a terrible burden. I also couldn't forcefully the . I glanced at her. She was alert as ever. Studying the situation, her friend, and me. I was surprised she could stay silent for so long. Now, this seemed like someone I might . She didn't seem like the whiny or talkative type. Arguably intelligent. While I was studying her I noticed that her sleeves of her oversized sweatshirt were rolled up and I also noticed the scars and the bruises on her arms. Where on earth had she gotten those?

"Why do you want to be a vampire?" I asked him. "It is not much fun. We can only come out at night. Humans despise us. We have to sleep in dirty old places like this. We can never marry or have children or settle down. It is a horrible life."

"I don't care." I questioned the boy further. If there is one thing that I knew was true from this conversation, it is that he wanted to become a vampire. So, I tested him. I had tasted evil before and knew exactly what it tasted like. The boy's was evil, but there was something strange about the way it tasted. Like a cherry lollipop. You can taste the artificial flavoring; you know that a real cherry doesn't taste like that and that the lollipop is only imitating the flavor. Never the less, I spit out his and told him he was evil.

"You have bad ! You are evil! I can taste the menace in your . You are savage."

"That's a lie!"

"I will not make you a vampire. You must forget about it. Get on with your life."

"No! I won't forget! I'll get you for this. I don't care how long it takes. One day, Vur Horston, I'll track you down and kill you for rejecting me! Come on, Arden! We're leaving!"

The had a very calm and steady voice that seemed to have some affect on the boy. "I'll be out in a few minutes, Seth. Start walking to your house without me. I'll catch up," she said.

"Are you going to ask him to become a vampire too?" he questioned.

"No. I promise." After hearing her promise the boy nodded and walked away.

The looked at me for a moment and then faced me. "I ask you to forgive my friend. I've never seen him like that. It was so out of character. He's a good person. He's helped me through some rough times. Though, there is one thing I do know. He is _not_ evil."

"_Are_ you going to ask me to turn you into a vampire?"

"No, I keep my promises. I won't tell anyone about you though, and I'm certainly not going to become a vampire hunter. As far as I know you've never hurt anyone in your life. I don't think Seth is going to either. He's just upset. I also want to apologize on his behalf. Something's up with him. This is not normal behavior. I just don't know what's wrong yet…" She sighed and was walking towards the exit when I asked her another question.

"Where did you get those scratches, bruises, and scars from?" She looked at me sadly and paused for a few moments.

"That is none of your concern." She left.

I had decided when she left that I was going to study her further. She was walking down the street when a large figure pounced on her from the alley. I could hear her cry out in pain as the figure attacked her again and again. Whoever they were they were much larger than Arden.

Just as I was about to step in and save her, she began to attack back with immense force. Now I was hearing the boy attacking her cry out in pain. She was beginning to yell at him in between punches.

"Just leave me alone Adam. Is that so hard to ask? I put up with you for _two months_._ Two. Months._ You beat me up on almost every date. You didn't even have to have a reason, near the end. It took me two months of self-defense classes to be strong enough to win in a fight against you. And now I'm going to win again." With each sentence she delivered a powerful blow with either a fist or a foot that sent her attacker stumbling backwards. "I've had _enough_ of you Adam. _Back. Off._ And leave. Me. Alone." At the end of each of her last three sentences she punched the boy in the gut and then kicked him in between the legs after the final sentence. " !" she yelled and then she left the scene. Her ex-boyfriend lying on the street in pain.

After seeing such a display of strength, I knew I wanted this to be my assistant. That boy was so much larger than her! I knew that she could do the same thing with a male vampire. She reminded me so much of my old mate, Arra Sails. Watching that fight, I hadn't seen a human , I had seen a vampire!

**Author's Note: And now, I would like to thank all those who reviewed: woriedwart12345, the American Ranger, and ferretgirlsz. All of you have just made my day when I see your reviews in my emails! Any who enjoy this fanfiction should start reviewing or continue to review, because it is much appreciated by me. Now, I would like to apologize for any slight typos that have occurred. None of them were on my original word documents. I'll be sure to keep the chapters coming!**


	6. Chapter 7

**Arden's P.O.V.**

I caught up with Seth after my fight with Adam, and I didn't tell him about it. I knew he already had too much on his mind. While we were walking, I sighed and gave him a hug. He stopped and hugged me back. So, we just stood there hugging, for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes.

We started walking again and that's when the interrogation began. We had a long walk ahead of us and I wanted answers. "Seth –" I began.

"I'm not evil!" he yelled.

"I wasn't going to mention that, actually. I already know you're not evil. That dude was wrong. Someone who was evil wouldn't be so kind when I was having my Adam troubles." _Still having them, actually,_ I mentally corrected myself.

"What were you going to say then?"

"Why would you like to become a vampire and leave behind your life? I mean, it's not that bad, and it can only get better."

"I don't know. Something was… never mind."

"No. Tell me."

"It was like I was talking, but I wasn't."

"Huh?"

"I knew I was speaking the words, but my brain wasn't telling my body to speak them."

"Weird."

"Yeah."

"Well, I am glad that he said no. I don't know what I would've done if one of my best friends was somewhere out there sucking blood with a vampire while I was stuck in school." He laughed. He looked a hundred percent better than he had earlier. When we got to his house we went straight to bed. We knew there was nothing to distract us from what we had seen that night, not even sleep.

When I got home I told Zula all about the Cirque. Apart from the fact that I had met a real- life vampire! I bet she wished she had gone! She loved the toy spider and all the candy I had brought her. She asked why she couldn't have the rest and I told her that I was saving them for Miles and Luna. I had given quite a few pieces to Seth to calm him down a little though. I reviewed all my vampire books that day and wrote down all the possible powers that the creepy vampire might have. I also jotted down everything that he might be resistant to, plus anything to use as a defense. Seth and I emailed each other updates constantly. I probably spent two hours putting up stuff that could be used as a defense around my house. At the end of the day I was exhausted and fell asleep the instant my head hit my pillow.

Luna and Miles pestered us all day about the Cirque Du Freak. We had to tell them about it in parts because we didn't have enough time to tell them everything at once. Seth and I were good actors – actress in my case – they didn't have a clue that anything was amiss. And even if they had, they never would have guessed the truth. They probably would have guessed something totally different – maybe that Seth and I were going out. Like that would ever happen!

"Maybe it was a fake spider," suggested Miles.

"No, it wasn't. That's what made the show so cool. You could tell that everything was real. It was worth every penny," I answered. "As far as how he controlled it, maybe he and Mr. Tall could charm spiders. You know, like with snakes, but way cooler tricks."

"I bet he used telepathy," Seth said. We all looked at him like he was crazy. "Hey, I've read a lot of books on the subject and it seems plausible."

"So anyone could control her?" asked Luna.

"Anyone with a brain, yes," he replied.

For some reason I couldn't stop thinking about Luna's question, and Seth's answer. I don't know why. I hate spiders. But for some reason, I wanted so badly to know what it was like to control her. It just kept nagging me on and off throughout the day.

That night, I went to bed early. I was really tired for some reason, and drifting off to sleep was a breeze.

I woke up with a start, as if some nightmare had woken me. I sighed and stared at the clock, it was four in the morning! I was about to go back to sleep when I no longer had control of my body. It was exactly as Seth had described it, I was moving and getting dressed, but my brain wasn't telling my body to do it. In fact, my brain was screaming 'STOP!' as loud as it could, yet I just kept walking and walking.

I was getting an excruciating headache. My head felt like it had and elephant's foot crushing down on it. And it just wouldn't stop.

I was seeing flashes of a boy. Walking down a street. I kept seeing him all throughout this trance I was in. His actions were mimicking mine, or maybe it was vice versa. The throbbing in my head seemed to double.

I easily slipped out the door without either of my parents knowing and made the quick fifteen-minute walk to the theater. Oh no! Not here! Silent as a cat, I tiptoed around the theater until I came upon a staircase. Oh, god, when would my body start listening? I just _knew_ that he was down there, asleep. Maybe dreaming about the little kid he'd probably had for dinner last night. I slipped off my shoes and slinked down the stairs without making a noise. I could see coffin in the corner – of course I had hoped it might just be coffin shaped, but I knew my hopes were wrong.

I could see the boy in a basement of another old theater, a different one, snooping around, just as I was. Who was this guy?

As I snuck and snooped around, I saw her cage. _Why_ was I picking up the cage!? I hate spiders, down to the very core of my being, but now I was picking up the cage of the biggest, hairiest, most poisonous spider of them all! As I was doing this, I saw the boy doing the exact same thing! What was going on?

Thankfully, after I grabbed the cage, I was out of there. When I got home, I put her in my closet and just went back to bed. Crazy! But, at least I wasn't seeing that boy anymore, and my monster headache was gone too. Maybe this was some kind of short lapse in my sanity.

Six o'clock came too early that morning. I knew that stealing Madam Octa hadn't been a dream. I wouldn't steal that spider even in my wildest nightmares. Sometime, I would have to tell Seth about this, but not yet. I wasn't even ready to admit it to myself at the moment. I walked to my bus stop feeling miserable as anyone could feel. If you haven't stolen a creepy, hairy, extremely large, poisonous, and very rare spider, you wouldn't know how I felt as the school day was beginning.

When I was walking home, it was raining – not unusual for my area, but still, it matched my mood. When I came up to my room, I dared to peek into my closet and view the arachnid that surely awaited me. Of course, there she was, eyeing me with all eight of her beady little eyes. I shivered, closed the door, and sighed. There were three words that had always helped me throughout my life, and I hoped they wouldn't fail me now: to the library!

I looked up everything I could on large poisonous spiders, and decided that Madam Octa couldn't be too different as far as diet went. So, I went to Super 1, and picked up some raw turkey, if she didn't like turkey, tough. I also picked up a few worms off the sidewalk, feeling a little bit sorry about their fate.

I fed her and she seemed okay, I figured what I gave her would at least tie her over until tomorrow. This was going to suck, caring and paying for a pet that I didn't want or even like.

I really needed something to calm myself down. I started by rearranging the books in my mini library to start, and after that was done, brought my diary up to date on all that had happened. I felt a little bit better after finishing these familiar tasks, and tucked my diary under my mattress. I wanted to be an author, and since I had started writing in my diary, my writing skills had improved vastly.

I ended up eating a lot at dinner as a result of my nervousness. Mom and dad, as usual, were oblivious to my jumpiness and my unusually large appetite. Though the appetite thing might not be their fault, I usually eat like a pig because of my high metabolism. I have to pig out all the time so I don't look like a freaky stick person. Plus, I had been working out a lot lately so that I would be ready to take on Adam at a moments notice.

I _really _didn't want to go to bed that night, but I figured that if whatever defenses I put around the house didn't work, I really wouldn't stand a chance even if I were awake. I even considered returning her, but then he would know it was me who had stolen her and most likely murder me. So, I put all worries about Madam Octa to rest and fell asleep as quickly as I could. Right before I fell asleep I figured if I ended up dieing at least I would die quickly and painlessly in my sleep. He wouldn't want to risk raising a ruckus and waking up my entire family just so I could die painfully. I knew he was at least _that_ smart.

* * *

I was relieved when I woke up and was alive Wednesday morning. It's amazing what thinking that you're going to die can do for your outlook on life. I practically skipped to the bus stop that morning, happy to be able to breath in the fresh April air. I was so pleased that when I got home, I ordered a pizza for everyone.

While feeding Madam Octa that evening I switched into zombie mode again. It seemed that the unpleasantness in my life would just never end.

I let her out of her cage and began playing the flute thing. The amazing thing was, she was listening to me! I was making her do tricks! Now, as I've mentioned many times before, I am no spider enthusiast, but this, was very cool. I just couldn't believe it; you'd think that being afraid of spiders would impair your ability to communicate with them telepathically, but apparently not. After doing a few tricks with her, I told her to go back in her cage. The entire affair went far better than I thought it would, and I slipped out of zombie mode once she was in her cage.

After my previous success I didn't need much prompting to play with her. Though I slipped into zombie mode a lot and when I did, she would start the crawl on me! I was getting better and better and eventually I didn't even need the flute anymore. I figured the vampire probably only used it for show, seeing how successful I was.

* * *

Seth dropped by a few days later, on Sunday. My mom made a face when she saw who was at the door but wasn't rude. She told Seth that I was up in my room. As destiny would have it, I had been thinking about telling him about the spider in my closet and my strange zombie activities. He stepped in and I smiled. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself," he responded. "Look, Arden, I can tell something's wrong, you've just been acting weird for over a week." He looked so sad. He whispered, "Is it because of what happened at the Cirque?"

"Yes, but not in the way you must think. It's…hard to explain."

"I've got plenty of time to kill."


	7. Chapter 8

"You know how you said that when you asked Crepsley to turn you into a vampire it was like you were saying the words, but at the same time weren't?"

"Yeah…"

"I had an episode like that last week." I said this very quietly.

"What? Oh my god, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't want to accept it myself."

"What did you do?"

"I stole Mr. Crepsley's spider." He gasped.

"And he hasn't killed you yet?"

"For some reason, no."

"You haven't had any more episodes have you?" I nodded.

"Yes. I've had numerous episodes. While I had all the others, I practiced with her. I can control her like the vampire did."

"Can you do it without going into these trances?"

"Yeah. I've done it lots of times." I grabbed her cage out of the closet and showed her to him. I also demonstrated a few of the simple tricks that the spider and I had practiced together.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?"

"Obviously not," I said giving him a look.

"I'm thinking of all the money we could make off this spider with you controlling it, and I could be your assistant. Let's practice." He seemed so enthusiastic that I didn't want to crush his spirit and remind him that I hated spiders.

"Okay, but I want a few things to be perfectly clear: One, you are to make no noise while she is out. I can control her without that whistle, but it takes a lot of my concentration. Two, if I am not feeling up to practicing for any reason, don't question me. Even the tiniest distraction could prove fatal to one or both of us. Three, don't tell anyone about this. That would be disastrous. And four, if I refuse to do any trick, any trick at all, _listen._ Don't try to pressure me into doing a trick with her against my better judgment. My word is law. Can you live by these rules?"

"Yes. Is she really as dangerous as that vampire made her out to be?"

"I'm sure she is."

"We gonna take her out now?"

"Sure." I let her out of her cage, and I got another bad headache. Just like the one I had when I was stealing the spider. _Don't move! Stay where you are, _I ordered her. "Stay still," was my order to Seth. I made Madam Octa climb up him and start spinning webs to swing from.

I went into one of those terrible trances, and the headache became unbearable. I would have been screaming if my vocal chords would have listened to my brain. I was seeing the kid again. He looked about eleven, maybe four inches shorter than me. His hair was black, like mine. And his eyes were the exact same shade of brown. Weird! Maybe this was a flashback into the past or something of that sort. He too was controlling Madam Octa, but was making her crawl all over another boy who looked about his age. Suddenly, a little girl, probably his sister, burst in and the spider bit the other boy!

I abruptly snapped out of the trance when Zula came in. My concentration was broken just long enough for Madam Octa to bite Seth!

**Author's Note: Yes, I _do_ know that it's been longer than usual since I last updated. But, I will have you all know that I was sick, then had some really hard math to make up, and then my computor died. It was just one thing after another to keep me from updating. Anyway, here's the newest chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it, and I will try to update again soon. Peace Out!**


	8. Chapter 9

The horror seeing Seth freeze up like that was terrible, but I knew I had to protect Zula and myself. I immediately ordered Madam Octa back into her cage. The millisecond that she was inside I swiftly locked the cage up. I turned to Zula, confirming my fears that she was about to scream. I sprinted up to her and covered her mouth before she had a chance to wail.

I gave her a serious look. "Don't scream. Please." I paused a few seconds to let her calm down and process everything in her brain. "Okay, I'm going to take my hand off your mouth now. Do you promise not to scream?" She nodded and I did as I had promised.

"What is that Arden?"

"It's an extremely poisonous tarantula that I stole. I had complete control over her before you walked in."

"Wow. You didn't even bother not telling me the entire thing. And don't blame this on me, if you were supposed to have this spider you wouldn't have had to steal it."

"I strive for honesty." I said sadly and sarcastically. "And it wouldn't have killed you to knock."

"What's going to happen to him?"

"I don't know. All I know is that we have to get him to a hospital. Please don't say what really happened. I'll just say that I left to use the bathroom and that when I came back; he was all frozen like that. Look, it won't help them at all to know what type of spider she is. She's really rare and they probably won't know about her and her kind anyway, so there would be no point. To fight the venom, you have to have anti-venom, which comes from the venom itself. And I certainly don't want to be the one milking her fangs." She looked really scared and I didn't blame her. "Go to your room, and in a minute or two I'm going to scream. Come running in here and act like you never saw what had happened. Even if your acting sucks, mom will be too freaked out to notice. Go!" She ran to her bedroom.

I ran to the bathroom really quickly and put the final parts on for this little act. I flushed the toilet and ran the water for about a minute. I knew mom would be able to hear whether I flushed the toilet or not. I walked back to my room, put the spider's cage back in my closet, and let out a huge scream.

My time at the hospital was terrible, I couldn't imagine a worse way to spend an afternoon. All the doctors and nurses rushing around. All the waiting. What was I going to do? Mr. Crepsley had said that Madam Octa was deadly, but maybe he had meant without proper treatment. I spent a lot of time just wandering around and eating at the cafeteria. Doing everything as slowly as I could to pass the time. Doctors gave updates every so often and none of them were good. They couldn't figure out what had bitten him. They asked me and Zula a lot of questions about how I had found him, how long I had been in the bathroom and so on. It seemed the news just kept getting worse. I even had to fill out paperwork on how I had found him. It was completely awful. All I could do the entire time was think about the boy that I saw when I got that headache. Controlling the same exact spider, just with a different boy. Why was I doing the exact same thing he was when I went into the trances?

My mom spent the night with Seth's mom at the hospital and I was expected to go home and get a good night's sleep. Yeah. Right. Like that was going the happen. The headaches, the other boy in those weird flashes, the spider, Seth, Mr. Crepsley, with all this stuff on my mind, how was I supposed to sleep?

I ate as much food as I normally would at dinner, but it all ended up going down the toilet later (Literally). Just thinking about all this stuff and considering I might be crazy was enough to make any decent human being sick.

When I got to my room she was waiting there for me in my closet. In my room, all alone, I let the tears come that I had been holding in all day. Each one flowed silently down my face. Eventually I took her out of the closet. I shivered from the fear of spiders that I had had all my life. This was one of the reasons for my fear of spiders. Fear of getting bitten. I hated her now more than ever. It was so unfair to be forced into this situation. I would never have stolen her of my own free will. I checked my clock; it was one in the morning. I could hear dad and Zula both snoring, so I figured it was safe to go outside.

I sat in the grass of my backyard in my pajamas. I didn't care if they got wet from the rain we had gotten earlier that day. I couldn't think of anything better to do than to sit there during this cold mid-spring night. The grass was really slick so I gently slid her cage to the edge of the yard (just because I didn't really like her didn't mean I had the right to squish her or something) while I was still sitting down; tears just kept flowing and flowing. I saw a shadowy figure creeping around. I didn't care though. I would almost welcome a painful death from some crazy serial killer now. At least that would mean no more of my strange trances. The figure picked up the cage and now I could see his face- it was Mr. Crepsley.

He looked at me with an unreadable face and then walked off.


	9. Chapter 10

I didn't run back to my room when I saw the vampire. I sat there for about another hour before I decided to go back inside. I washed my face and changed my soaking wet clothes. Then, slipped into bed and was tired enough to at least sneak in a few hours of sleep.

I woke up at five in the morning. Nobody else was up, so I decided to keep myself busy by making breakfast. Bacon, Chocolate chip pancakes, fresh squeezed orange juice. I had it all on the table by the time dad and Zula woke up. They looked surprised that I could even cook, but didn't say anything. They could both tell my reasons for the whole Rachel Ray thing. I was happy my parents didn't expect me to go to school, even though it was a Monday. Even mom understood that I cared for Seth enough to let me skip school to see him.

We got to the hospital and dad talked to the doctors and mom a lot before he came and gave us the information.

"It's some kind of natural poison. From a spider or a snake. But it's unlike any they've ever seen. They're sending samples to experts all over the country and even to quite a few other countries, but there's no promising what will happen."

"Will he die?" asked Zula.

"Maybe." Honesty. My head began buzzing with possible solutions. None of them good or safe for me. Tears ran down all of our faces. My dad knew a lot about wildlife and nature, stuff like that. He knew that this could be a yet undiscovered species. And that, if that were the case, Seth's chances of living were very slim. "The venom hasn't spread to his brain and they can keep him alive for a long time on machines. His chances of fighting the venom naturally are small, but maybe the machines can buy time for the doctors to find something to fight it. They think he has a couple of days before his respiratory and circulatory systems shut down and all the machines come out."

That day went along about the same as the day before. Only this time, I got to see Seth. He looked awful and I didn't stay long. Besides, he was an important patient and there were lots of doctors and nurses taking all sorts of samples for testing and keeping an eye on him.

After another few hours dad decided it was time for all of us to go home. Some of Seth's relatives agreed to call us if there was any change in Seth's condition. None of us had gotten much sleep last night, mom had gotten none at all, so everyone decided to turn in early. It was only eight thirty when all the lights went out.

I sat there thinking for about two hours. Thinking up one plan after another to save Seth. But, after all that thinking, the simplest won out. My only option was to go back to the old theater and ask Mr. Crepsley about any possible antidotes.

I figured everyone in the house was asleep, so I slipped downstairs to get weapons for defense. I wasn't going down there by myself without protection. Forget stupid holy water and crosses! That's just water and metal. Not likely to kill any living thing. I went straight for the big guns. We had a couple javelins in the garage; I grabbed the shortest one with the easiest maneuverability. I also carried a long sharp knife and wrapped some cloth around it so I wouldn't cut myself, then attached it to my lower leg. My last weapon of choice was a lengthy sock with a large, heavy rock in the toe of it. I was now ready to confront the vampire Larten Crepsley!

It was a long lonely walk. It was really dark out, so nobody noticed me walking around with a javelin. I knew he would be waiting for me. My common sense dictated that much. He was probably in the basement of the theater, knowing I would come. For all I knew he had planned this, thought, one thing I knew for sure was that he wanted something or he would have just taken the spider back right away. When I got to the basement it was well lit with candles. I stepped into the room he was sitting in. He was just sitting there. Doing nothing. Apparently he had nothing better to do, or didn't want to be distracted from me, or didn't want to be absent from the theater when I arrived. When he saw me his face lit up as if I had just made his day. This was going to be interesting to say the least.

**Author's Note: Sorry, but the wait for new chapters is going to get longer. My parents are cutting back on my computor time, and so, I have less time to update my stories. Anyway, the more reviews, the less depressed I'll be, so keep reviewing! It just makes my day to see a new review! By the way, sorry this chapter is so short, this just seemed like the best place to leave off. Cliffhanger! I know, you hate me for the cliffhanger. *evil laugh***


	10. Chapter 11

**Mr. C's P.O.V.**

Arden was carrying a javelin and I sock with something in the bottom of it. I also figured she might have some other weapon concealed with her. I was secretly impressed; a lot of humans would come armed only with crosses or holy water.

"Good morning, Arden. Are you intending to attack me?" came the question.

"Only if you attack first, however unlikely that may be." How did she know this? It was simply astounding how intuitive she was of my nature. I wondered if she was like this with everyone.

"Why would you say that is unlikely?" I asked.

"You could have killed me a long time ago. You probably found out I had taken your spider shortly after I stole her, and found _me_ soon after that. You want something from me. All I want to know is what that is." I knew it! This was an intelligent and strong young lady. She _would_ become my assistant. There were certainly things I wanted to know about Arden as well. No matter how secretive she was, I would at least ask her. But later. Now I needed to focus on her becoming my assistant.

"That is all you want?"

"No. I want you to save Seth. I know you can, so don't try to deny that fact. Every poison has an antidote and you probably have it. Anybody who had any sense would have the antidote on hand, and I know you're at least that intelligent." She didn't seem like a very hateful child, most children would be blaming me for their misfortune with the spider. And she's even complimenting me - me the vampire! Very insightful too. It seemed we were playing a battle of the minds. Trying to see how much I can guess about her and how much she can guess about me. Attempting to figure each other out. I could tell she was doing the exact same thing, only she was doing so much better at it than I was.

"So you want to know what I want?" She nodded. "And whatever it is I want, you'll give it to me if I save you friend's life?"

"Almost anything." Ah, she was being cautious as always. I had at least figured that much out about her.

"Well, then, Arden Peterson, I wish for you to become my assistant. A half vampire." Now she was looking nervous; understandably so.

"I would have to leave my family?"

"Yes."

"What would I have to do as your assistant?"

"Anything I want you to do."

"And you'll save Seth?"

"Of course; I keep my promises too. We vampires are actually quite noble creatures."

"I'd be half vampire? What would that mean? What powers would I have?"

"Yes, you would only be half vampire, which means you will be able to come out during the daytime. Everything else will take too long to explain, so I will explain later."

"I accept. I will become your assistant. Now what do I do?" Her voice was steady and sure. She knew that she would be, in a way, trading her life for this boy, and now she wasn't giving it a second thought. There was no hesitation, she had made up her mind. It was rare to find a human so loyal to their friend anymore.

"Come here," I said softly. It was only fair that I try to be gentle. A voice in my head kept urging me on to do this act. For some reason, I was getting a terrible feeling of déjà vu. I just couldn't shake the feeling that I had done this before even though I had never taken on an assistant in the past. As I cut her fingers open, she only winced, as I had when I had cut mine open. Judging by all the scars, I guessed that she had had more serious and painful injuries before. I had long before figured out that all those scars came from her old boyfriend. In many ways this young girl was already a vampire. She was already familiar with hardship and pain, she was serious, she knew what she was doing, and lastly she had her wits about her. An important trait to have in the world of vampires. She would only need a little bit of coaxing to adjust to our ways. When I tested her blood she stood still. No whining. Excellent. Her blood was pure, so I pressed my fingertips against hers. I could tell it was painful and she was trying to look tough. I remember how terrible my first blooding had been for me. I had made quite a bit of noise, I suddenly remembered. I am now surprised that Seba didn't dismiss me.

It was even uncomfortable for me now. She was sweating when I took my fingers off hers and healed her wounds and mine with my saliva. Her eyes widened in wonder as I dribbled the saliva on her cut and it seemed to magically disappear. She kept silent though, apparently saving her questions for later. "Why did you take my spider in the first place? I saw you during the show too. You looked absolutely sick." That question had been eating away at my mind since I had discovered she had pilfered my beautiful arachnid.

"Again, that is none of your concern. But, I'm going to ask you a question even though I never answer yours. Why did you choose me?"

This was a fair question, and besides, if I answered some of her questions she might be more inclined to answer mine. "I liked you from the beginning. You were quiet and polite. That is very unusual in a child your age nowadays. But, what first convinced me that you would make a good assistant was the fight I witnessed with your old boyfriend. I saw you fight him off after you left, and I was amazed. There are few girls your age who could do that, especially against such a strong young man. You showed such spirit and determination and, to be quite honest, I was in awe. Then, after you stole my spider I was even more convinced that you were brave and would make a fine assistant. Also, you seem so familiar, like I have known you for decades. It is odd, ever since I met you, déjà vu has become a common feeling in my mind."

"Well, thanks for clarifying I guess. Why don't I feel any different?"

"It will take a while for the blood to set in. Otherwise, your body would die from the shock of such rapid change. Now, if I am not mistaken, do you not have a friend that is in need of saving? Let us go."


	11. Chapter 12

**Arden's P.O.V. :**

We took our time walking out of the theater. I could tell that the vampire had a lot of questions to ask me, but I had some questions I wanted answered as well. I also wanted to clarify a few things for him.

"Okay, I'm your assistant now. What's done is done, we can't change that, but make no mistake, if you do anything that's the least bit dodgy, I will put an end to it. If that means putting an end to you, so be it."

"I can live with that. A vampire's assistant has to have spirit, otherwise they won't survive the rough times they have ahead of them. May I ask a question?"

"You just did. But, my answering the next question you ask would depend on the question."

"Why are you so willing to give up your human life for this boy?" I could tell that he was desperate to get some answers from me, and this wasn't that personal, so I decided to answer.

"Because I owe him at least that much. Without his help and support, along with others, I might not be here. I might be lying dead in the gutters. Plus, if I had just exercised some common sense or decency, I wouldn't have let him practice with me. My last reason for giving him my life is simply that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't save him. I've been given the opportunity to save him, and not taking that chance and using it would be just as bad as stabbing him with a knife. I know he would do the same for me." We talked a little bit more on the way out of the theater. Mostly just him asking about me: my age, my grades, my family. All of it was small talk.

When we finally were out in the late evening air, he grunted, "Come on, climb on my back and hold on tight. We need to reach the hospital quickly." He began to run, and after a few seconds the world seemed to slip by us. We arrived in front of the hospital in only a few minutes, even though it was pretty far from the theater. He set me down and looked at me as if expecting a question. I bottled up my inquisitiveness for the time being. I would absolutely attack him with questions when the time was right, though.

"What room is he in?" Mr. Crepsley asked.

"218." He counted windows then ordered me onto his back again. Once I was holding on tight, he began to scale the building! He was digging his fingernails and toenails into the brick and climbing up! When we reached the window to Seth's room, he rubbed his fingers together super fast next to the lock and it popped unlocked. He slinked silently into the dark room, pulling something out of his red cloak. It was a tiny vial with a strange blue liquid in it: the anti-venom!

He used one of his super strong nails to make a cut on Seth's neck. Tilting a little bit of the serum into his mouth, he then proceeded to put his mouth over the cut on the neck and get the serum into his bloodstream that way. It made enough sense I supposed. After that deed was done he spat into the sink that was in the bathroom connected to the room and started to wash out his mouth. Apparently the antidote was poisonous when ingested.

"Will there be any side affects after he wakes up?"

"Some side affects, yes, nothing serious, though. He will catch some viruses very easily and he will probably have high blood pressure. Some other small little things here and there, but he should be able to grow up a semi-normal boy."

"Semi-normal?"

"Arden, do you really believe that anyone is normal? Is there any way to define normal? Aside from bodily functions, organs, and weight, there is no such thing as normal."

"You're wrong. I think there is such a thing as normal. And, definitely such a thing as abnormal."

"That is going to be an interesting debate to go into in the future, miss Peterson. Maybe we can both help each other to see subjects in a different light." He smiled kindly at me, and I realized that there could be worse people to spend the next decade or two with.

"Let us leave, before we are caught by a doctor or nurse."

Back at the theater, we sat down on the stage next to each other. "We need to plan your faked death, Arden. When do you wish to die?"

I sighed. "Can I have two weeks to get ready?" Ugh, it was really weird planning my death. Another thing that, if you've never done it, you could never guess how weird it is.

"Hmmm. Well, I suppose. But, you are going to have to stop by next Monday night for blood." I nodded. "That night, we will plan your next stop here for blood. And then, later, we will plan how you will die. I will take you home now. You are exhausted."

He helped me slip silently into my home. Any other time even a vampire wouldn't have been able to sneak in, but both of my parent were exhausted and could've have slept through Pearl Harbor. The minute I crawled into bed, I fell asleep.

_**Mr. C's P.O.V. again:**_

I am not really the fatherly type, but even I felt mildly paternal and protective when Arden fell asleep. I smiled and began to snoop a little around her room. I could see her extensive book collection; it made sense that such a smart girl would read often. She had many posters hung up for movies, books, and movies based on books. A stereo and some other kind of stereo device was on her bookcase. I believe it was called an ipoke decking station. Something along those lines. I opened her closet and peered inside, it was a little unkempt but not as bad as you would expect a teenager's closet to be. I found only a few articles of clothing that were pink, so I guess that wasn't her favorite color. Apart from that, she had a few knickknacks lying around her room and the room in whole was mildly messy, but organized in some strange way.

Shortly before I was done examining my assistant's room, the door creaked open and I almost fled, fearing being caught by one of her relatives. How had I not heard someone coming? Had I been that distracted? Just as I was about to dive into her closet, something fuzzy rubbed up against my leg. A calico cat. No wonder I hadn't heard anything coming, cats can be almost as silent as vampires. When it realized that I wasn't it's owner and that I was a vampire, it quickly jumped on the bed and hissed. It – he - was standing protectively over its master. I noticed the name on the collar read 'Shikamaru'. What an odd name for any creature to have. I heaved a long sigh and decided I had investigated enough.

I left her room, feeling a little bit bad about the fate I had condemned this animated and lively teenage girl to.

**(A/N: Shikamaru is the name of one of my favorite characters in _Naruto._ I have become quite fond of manga lately, and it seems like a good name for a cat. Yes I know it is a bit OOC for Mr. Crepsley to act nice, but Arden is much harder to figure out than Darren, and she at least gives Mr. C. the benefit of the doubt, so no attempted murder using words okay?) **


	12. Chapter 13

**Arden's P.O.V.**

I woke up feeling absolutely energetic. I'm no morning person, but I felt better that morning than I ever had in my life. I hadn't even needed an alarm clock. When I came down the stairs, my parents were waiting for me in the dining room with huge smiles on their faces.

"Arden, you'll never believe this! Seth woke up last night. He's going to be fine!" my dad yelled.

I jumped up and down excitedly, absolutely beaming. While I was almost sure Mr. Crepsley hadn't lied about the antidote, if I said I hadn't had any doubts that would be a prevarication.

The week went by pretty quickly. Seth came back to school and didn't rat me out about the spider. We talked and he didn't hate me for the whole spider incident, for which I was relieved. When he asked where she was, I just told him that her fangs had been ripped out when she had bitten him and that she had died soon after, like a bee. He seemed to buy this pretty easily, probably because he didn't have any proof that would say otherwise.

The vampire powers began setting in after a few days, just like Mr. Crepsley said they would. I could hear better, see better, and smell better. Oddly, food wasn't any more potent than it usually was. You would think a better sense of smell would mean you could taste food better, but apparently not. I'd have to ask him about that. Not only my senses became better, but my athleticism. I was doing way better in gym, and that was when I was holding back. At night, I'd sneak out and do pushups and pull-ups in the backyard to keep myself fit. An even more surprising fact was that I was silent enough to sneak out of my house at night. My parents could hear a pin dropping in their sleep but somehow I was able to close the back door without any problems. Every inch of me was stronger, fitter. I could chew through metal if I wanted to.

Friday, during gym, Luna fell on the track and cut her knee open. I had been jogging next to her for the conversation, when I noticed the blood. I was mesmerized by the scent of it. Imagine the best thing you've ever smelled and then multiply that by 13. _That_ is how good that blood smelled. I instinctively started sucking some. After about thirty seconds I realized that I was sucking one of my best friend's blood and ripped myself away.

"Let this be a lesson to all klutzes out there that if you fall and cut yourself I, the master of all vampires, will suck your blood!" That was my attempt now to sound like a complete freak.

"Eww!" Luna shrieked. I could tell she wasn't that freaked out though. I could also tell she was delighted to have a break from monotonous jogging.

Seth had stopped jogging though and by the look on his face I could tell he knew.

After gym I sprinted to the sanctuary of the girl's locker room and changed as fast I could. I had never thought I would ever say this but thank you last period gym class! After that I stealthily snaked through the wave of students trying to get out of the building and get home for the evening. Once I was on the bus I sighed with relief and knew. It was time to see Mr. Crepsley.

When I got home I told mom I was going to the library.

As I stepped into the darkness of the ancient theater, I became aware of how much time I was spending in this stuffy old joint and sighed. Things were changing more rapidly in my life than I would have liked, but now I was stuck. Maybe now that I was a vampire, I could finally figure out who that mystery kid was. I wandered through the labyrinth of corridors until I found the one with Mr. Crepsley's coffin in it. He was still in it. Asleep. Terrific. I sighed and dialed my dad's number on my almost-never-used cell phone.

"Hey dad."

"Hi Arden, is something wrong?"

"Yeah! The only books on border states are all super long and will take me forever to find what I need in."

"Can't you just check the books out?"

"No can do. They can't be checked out."

"So you might be a little while longer than expected?"

"Yeah. A lot longer."

"Okay then. Bye."

"Bye dad."

I decided that while I waiting for Mr. Crepsley to wake up that I might as well do some homework, so I lit a bunch of the candles that were in the room and started on the equations that I had been assigned earlier that afternoon.

Shortly after I had finished my math, I saw the coffin beginning to open.

"Good evening Mr. Crepsley!" I heard a surprised grunt and the coffin door slammed shut. It re-opened almost right away and Mr. Crepsley was in front of me in an instant.

"What the hell are you doing here, Arden?" he half-yelled.

"Well, I was supposed to meet my pot dealer here and – why do you think I'm here?! For blood Smart One!" He looked extremely funny right now. His pale cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, he was in only some light blue boxer shorts and a white T-shirt, and lastly, he had some pretty bad bedhead.

"You need blood already?"

"Yeah, I accidentally took some from one of my friends this afternoon!"

"It's only been a week. You shouldn't need any blood at this time."

"Well I do, maybe it's because I have a really high metabolism."

"Okay," he sighed. He stepped out of the room for a minute, groggily, and then came back with a bottle. And the bottle was filled to the brim with blood. "Here."

I chugged from that bottle like there was no tomorrow. After I was done I realized that Mr. Crepsley was looking at me oddly. When I began to stare back, he shook his head as if to clear it then walked over and examined me.

It was kind of like going to a doctor's office, only with a vampire twist. He examined my teeth and had my bite through some metal. Next, he had me do an array of exercises that tested my strength and agility. Lastly, he examined my nails, which had gotten harder and darker. "You will need to start biting your nails in order to keep them short now. Nail-clippers will have no effect," he announced after a while. "You should be going home soon." I nodded and headed out the door. Something very weird had happened while I was down there. It felt oddly comfortable: like I should be there or something. I guessed that was a good thing, seeing as how that's was going to by my routine for quite a long time.


	13. Chapter 14

My last week as a human was a sad one. I barely paid attention in class. What I concentrated on were my friends and family. I memorized their faces, their voices, and every aspect of them. I managed to avoid Seth, and at lunch I never even looked at him. It felt wrong and awful, but it was necessary.

My final night was the worst. Knowing I would never see anyone again. It was Saturday, so I went to a movie with Miles and Luna. I played board games with Zula. I even watched a baseball game with my dad like I used to when I was little.

After dinner I said I needed to go to the library. We had had some rain last night, and today has been colder than usual, so all the water had turned to ice. This was how I would "die".

There was an alley really close to the library. It was there that Mr. Crepsley gave me the potion of living death and broke my neck. Everybody would assume that I had slipped on all the ice and broken my neck. After that, everything sped by in a blur: being put in a black dress and having a crown of white flowers put in my hair, being placed in my coffin and all the tears that came with it, and finally, people placing a bunch of different items around me and being buried alive. When I was alone, I could feel a few tears leak down my cheeks. I'm just going to say this right now, dying is HELL! Don't try to do it anytime soon, because I don't recammende it.

As feeling came back to my limbs, Mr. Crepsley came and got me. It felt unbelievably great to be out of that god-awful coffin. There are no words for how claustrophobic I had gotten in there.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like I've been in a dark hole where the sun doesn't shine, and couldn't move for days." After my comment he gave me a small sympathetic smile.

"Coffins are not so bad if you get to move around in them, and if you are only in them during the day. You can go behind those bushes over there if you want to change." He blushed after he said that and I could tell that this was going to be a little embarrassing having a male mentor.

"Don't you want me to help you fill that hole?"

"No. You will only slow me down."

"Oh. What do we do about the stuff in the coffin?"

"All the-?" He peered inside the coffin and noticed that I had been buried with the two things in my room that I loved the most: my books and my ipod. "Do you intend to carry those books everywhere we go?"

"No, but I'm taking my ipod, and buying a wall charger for it as soon as I can."

"Here is your bag." He tossed it over to me while my back was turned, so I didn't catch it and when my bag landed, it contents flew everywhere. Meaning, there was a mess of stuff... including very _feminine-type_ products. "What are those?" he asked. **A/N: He he, sorry, I couldn't resist. I will try to refrain from stuff like that from now on.**

"I'll tell you later." I quickly picked up the mess and swiftly walked over to the bushes to change into jeans and a sweater; I ignored the confused and concerned looks that Mr. Crepsley gave me. When I was done changing, somebody jumped me on.

Seth. "How could you betray me Arden? You said you wouldn't become a vampire, and look, here you are now, Mr. Crepsley's assistant." I could see the tears in his eyes and I heard his voice crack a couple times.

"I did it to save you, Seth- "

"Don't give me that shit. You've already lied to me, don't lie to me anymore."

"I'm not lying."

"Whatever, now I'm going to have to kill you and Crepsley." His face seemed to change for just a second and turned into that of the boy who had been bitten by the spider in my vision.

"Go ahead," I said. He lifted a stake that seemed to come out of nowhere as if he were about to stab my heart out, but he just held it there. "Just like I thought."

"Aden, where are you? Are you okay?" Mr. Crepsley was calling me from only a few meters away.

"I'm okay. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"What is taking so long?"

"You don't wanna know." That was the truth, at least. He would probably assume it was something quite different from the situation I was actually in, though. He didn't ask any more questions after that.

"You're right Arden, I can't kill you today, but I promise I will." As he was cutting a cross on his palm, his eyes grew wide with shock and gasped, "What's happening to me, Arden? I keep going into zombie mode." And then, just as quickly as it had come, it passed and he was crazy Seth again. "I promise, Arden." With that statement, he ran into the night.

"I'm sorry, Seth," I whispered. It seemed that Seth and I were just two friends, only 13, who were being sucked into something much larger and greater than they could possibly understand.

There was nothing I could have done different at that point. I picked up my bag and walked over to Mr. Crepsley. "Being a vampire and leaving won't get any easier will it?" I asked.

"Not really."

"Well," I sighed. "Destiny awaits us."

Mr. Crepsley gave me the most peculiar look after that.

It was that day that the cage I am in...grew even smaller.

_**End Book One**_

**Author's Note: Okay, I just added this author's note because I got a review with a question. I don't mind answering questions at all my dear readers so I'm going to answer it right now! They asked: are you continuing into book two? And the answer is: YES! This is currently one of my favorite fanfictions, so I _do_ want to continue writing. Plus, this is currently my most popular fanfiction. So, keep the reviews coming, and I will keep the chapters coming. Yay reviews!**


	14. Chapter 15

I enviously stared down at Mr. Crepsley as drank blood from the beefy man in the scout's uniform. I _really_ wanted to drink blood, but my body wouldn't let me. Apparently mystery boy - I still didn't get how we were connected - hadn't been big on drinking blood and was being really stupid. I wasn't as ignorant as he was. I understood my need for blood and didn't mind taking it from humans as long as they weren't harmed in the process. In fact, I _preferred_ that to drinking some poor animal's blood. He hadn't seemed to mind draining animal corpses of their blood because that's what I was stuck doing. I literally _couldn't_ drink human blood. And it sucked.

Mr. Crepsley looked at me expectantly and growled when I shook my head.

"You are being idiotic."

"I know."

"Then why will you not drink any? You must want to," he said a little more sympathetically.

"I just can't."

"If this is some moronic scheme of yours to cling to your 'humanity'-"

"It's not that okay." My voice had cracked at the end of the sentence and he knew that it was time to drop the subject.

Mr. Crepsley understood by now that I was mildly depressed. I did a lot of sitting around with my ipod turned up as loud as I could stand it. The only reason he hadn't done anything by now was probably because he didn't know how to deal with it. Murderous vampires, he could probably handle. Poisonous spiders, no problem I'm sure. But throw a moody, starving, scrawny, and depressed teenager into the mix, and he was clueless. If I were angry with him he _might_ know how to solve that problem, but I wasn't angry with him. I was angry with myself.

It had been two months since I had first turned into a vampire. It was June now and school was out in this state. I hadn't even bothered to figure out which state in the U.S. we were in. I decided to go for a walk. I needed some fresh air, and while Mr. Crepsley was interesting enough company, I wanted someone a little closer to my age to hang out with for a little while. I didn't even know how many years old he was, in actuality - though I could guess how old he was physically.

While I was walking, I saw a group of boys about my age playing street hockey. I watched them for a few minutes when one came over to talk to me.

"You know, it's rude to stare." He was flirting with me.

"How do you know I'm not interested in the architecture of that old library over there? If you assume I'm staring at you, that makes you a narcissist."

"Fair enough. Do you want to play with us? You look kinda lonely. My name's Michael."

I smiled. "I'd actually love to play with you."

Michael's team had been losing. Until now. They were all really surprised that I was such an excellent player, and I wasn't even working hard. In fact, I was trying really hard to keep my vampire powers in control.

Those poor boys…they never saw me coming. I was awesome at street hockey all of a sudden. I had always been a pretty good athlete as a human, but now, I was unstoppable.

It was after my seventh goal in a row that things got dirty. Now, some dude on the other team, Jesse I think, was not happy about me winning. So then, he decided he didn't want to play fair. He pinched me in someplace you shouldn't pinch a girl unless you want to get slapped: namely, the ass. In my rage and embarrassment, I sped after him – still at a human pace of course – and made an attempt to trip him with my hockey stick. Bad idea. Not only did I trip him, but I broke his legs in two as well. Which, of course, was not a good thing to do.

Then, I did the only thing I could do. I dropped everything, and ran back to the hotel to tell Mr. Crepsley that we needed to leave pronto.

* * *

Mr. Crepsley and I spent the next day in an abandoned church. I was always pretty inept at cooking, but Mr. Crepsley managed to teach me how to make this stew-type thing. So, I purchased the ingredients for that and it was stew for breakfast for Mr. Crepsley.

We ate in silence. I suppose that was one thing that Mr. Crepsley couldn't complain about: a noisy assistant. Apart from lessons, we didn't really talk that much. I guess that neither of us were really the chatty types, but still.

After a while, he smiled. "I could get used to this…being served breakfast." I just nodded as a response. "It was, um, nice of you to serve me breakfast." I nodded again. "You've been getting much better at cooking." Yet another nod was all he got for his efforts of communication. "I…um…that is…" He sighed. "I was never very good at being subtle," he said. "So I will come right out and say it: What went wrong yesterday? Why were you so upset? Er, more upset than usual."

"I broke someone's legs in half yesterday and… other stuff." I was _not_ about to tell him the _other_ thing that was wrong besides breaking legs. Stuff that I don't think was normal for vampires. Mr. Crepsley would have explained something this abnormal right away. The colorful dreams were extremely strange and vivid. I had never had dreams like these before. In all honesty, they were downright creepy.

"Other stuff?" Great. I had to open my mouth. Now he was suspicious.

"Yeah, you know, not being able to drink blood and crap," I said. Okay, now I was really sounding like an evasive teenager. But, thankfully, he seemed to half-buy it and let the subject drop.

"It is something you must get used to," he said. "It is a fact of life that we are stronger than humans, faster, and tougher. If you play with them, they will be hurt."

"It's not like I feel bad about him being hurt in particular, I mean, I'm glad it was him instead of someone else, but I don't want to be able to hurt other people that easily."

"You feel no remorse for sending that boy to the hospital?"

"Not that boy, no," I answered.

"Why?" He sounded absolutely incredulous.

I looked away, embarrassed. "He pinched my ass."

Mr. Crepsley didn't say anything for a minute. Then, he said, "That is something to be upset about, I suppose."

"You suppose?"

"It is certainly something to be upset about."

"Thank you."

Mr. Crepsley shrugged. "Arden, if you continue to interact with humans, there will always be an accident waiting to happen."

"What if I just don't do sports with them?"

"Though it would still be dangerous, yes that would limit the number of accidents that could happen - "

"You want to know something?" I interrupted. He gave me an interested look, so I continued. "That's one reason I'm depressed. It's not just the fact that I had to leave my old family and friends; it's the fact that, I will never be able to have any new ones. Your good company and all, but I need some interaction with people my own age and not just adults. You are all vampire, but I still have some human in me, and humans need social interaction with other humans."

"All vampires deal with this loneliness - "

"Not all vampires are teenagers!" I yelled. "You said it yourself; you blooded me at a much younger age than usual. Look at you! Right now you're physically in your late thirties, early forties maybe! But I'm thirteen! Physically, mentally, emotionally the whole shebang! So stop lecturing me about other vampires having to deal with this! My guess is that you weren't a thirteen-year-old girl when you were blooded. Though," I mused. "I suppose it's possible." He looked outraged. Good. Let the old man get a shock or two from me. I've had my share of shocks from him.

When he spoke next, it was in such a soft voice that it surprised me. "I am sorry. I should not have blooded you. It was a poor call. You were too young. It has been so long since I was young, I had forgotten what it was like. I never thought of your friends and how much you would miss them. It was wrong of me to blood you. Terribly wrong - "

"Hey, stop your blubbering. Crying is my job! I'm the teenage girl for cripe's sake. And furthermore, you're being repetitive. Besides, I have this weird feeling that it's not entirely your fault for blooding me." He looked at me oddly but I ignored him. "Anyway, history cannot be undone…" I don't think, I mentally added.

"Still…" he mused.

"Still what?" I asked.

"Maybe there is someplace that you can make friends who know all about your vampiric nature and would accept it."

"I'm open to any ideas at this point."

"Arden," he smiled. "How would you like to live at the Cirque Du Freak?"

**By the way, I'm sorry that this chapter is so long, but I couldn't think of any better ways to set it up. Arden will get over her depression. I know it's been a while since I updated, but this chapter is lenthier than most, so hopefully that makes up for it. I hope to take this all the way through the series, so prepare yourselves for a long fanfiction! Peace Out!**


	15. Chapter 16

"Hmmm… They would know about us?" I asked.

"Yes."

"But, what about the physical risks? You said that even if I don't engage in physical sports with them that they would get hurt."

"Quite a few of the people at The Cirque are stronger than normal humans, so that would not be as much of a problem. Also, because they know about our true nature, they too could keep an eye on things while we are around as well as myself and you."

"Are there any children my age there?"

"There is one that I can think of that is always there." He smiled about something and I wondered whether or not this was a good thing. His grin was quite devious. "What do you wish to do then, Arden?"

"Well, I guess that sounds better than any other options," I mused.

"Options? As in plural?"

"I've been pondering this subject for quite a while, Mr. Crepsley."

He seemed nervous and he began rubbing his hands together in an uncomfortable fashion. "Just out of curiosity, would you open up on another subject for me?"

"That depends…"

"Why will you not drink blood? You do not seem foolish, so I wonder why you do not wish to."

"I _can't_." That was all I could say. It's not like I could say 'I can't because my body won't let me. Literally!'.

"Why can you not, though?" he asked again. I did _not_ feel comfortable discussing this with him. He sighed. "I can see that I should drop it, but I am worried for you, Arden. I only ask because I _do_ care about you."

Now it was my turn to sigh. "I know, but I think this is a problem I just need to work out for myself." He nodded in understanding.

"All you need to do is tell me when you are ready."

* * *

_I was falling. However, it wasn't the usual falling. I knew that my death awaited me at the end of my fall. I was falling onto a pit of stakes._

_Then I was looking at the pit of stakes I had been about to fall on. In that pit, were lying a lot of bodies, both of people I knew and didn't know. I could see Mr. Crepsley among them, Mr. Tall as well, and, to my horror, Seth. There was also a blonde, and some dude who was built like a wrestler, and many other nameless faces._

_A woman was standing next to me. And a strange woman she was; it's not every day you meet someone who wears ropes for clothing. "You let this happen."_

_"What the hell! I don't even know these people." I looked down at my hands. "Do I?"_

_"You will," she assured me. Then she gave me a maternal look. "But you can stop this. Using your gift, you can change what Darren didn't. You can see what he didn't see. Your maturity helps too, my dear."_

_"Who's Darren? What's going on? How could I let this happen, if it hasn't happened yet?"_

_"Your other half let it happen. Which is almost the same as if you yourself let it happen."_

_"How is this even possible?"_

_"You'll see," she said ominously. How cliché. Could that sentence be any more vague if she had tried._

_The scene changed again, and I was staring at someone who obviously had a dermatological issue. His face was purple. "I know it's him Gannen, I just don't want it to be him." I turned to face him more directly. "I know who the vampaneze lord is."_

_Alas, there was another scene change before the dream me announced who the mysterious vampaneze lord was. All I saw now was Mr. Tall holding a small pink bundle, in a very protective way. It was obviously a baby. He then stared down at me and said, "Destiny is something you must accept, but that doesn't mean you can't fight it."_

* * *

I woke up from the dream and wished that it was normal to have such a colorful dream, but it wasn't normal. Mr. Crepsley would only worry if I told him, so I didn't. Anyway, they weren't hurting me, they just scared the crap out of me. I sat there for a few minutes until I got bored.

It suddenly occurred to me that I wouldn't be finishing my education and that school would be starting again for all my friends in late August. And then, I had a brilliant idea. I would get some textbooks, paper, and pencils and teach myself. Certainly not as good as being taught by someone else, but at least I wouldn't come off as a complete moron should a subject come up that you needed to go to school to learn.

So, I decided that I would school myself throughout the time that I was a vampire. I stole a decent sum of money from the pocket of Mr. Crepsley's pants and I was off to an internet café to see where I could purchase textbooks in this town.

I found the textbooks easily enough after the café and some coffee, so I decided I needed to get back to the church before nightfall with all my stuff so I could hide it in my bag. Having Mr. Crepsley know about all this was not on my top ten list of things to do.

After we had breakfast together, he said, "Come, we must be going. I have located Mr. Tall's mental pattern and he is not so far away. We're lucky that America is a large country with many large cities, or else we might have had to cross a border. That is a much trickier thing to do nowadays than it used to be. We would have to flit across since neither of us have passports." I nodded and we were off.


	16. Chapter 17

As we flitted up to the Cirque, Mr. Crepsley stopped to catch his breath and make himself presentable. Who knew that vampire actually cared about their appearance? It occurred to me that this was pretty quiet place to be having a freak show, but then again I was no expert in that kind of business.

When a silver van, which I assumed was Mr. Tall's, came into view, Mr. Crepsley knocked on the door.

Mr. Tall opened it. "Oh, it's you. I thought I felt you searching for me." Noticing me, he added, "I see you've brought the girl." Hopefully 'the girl' was a nickname that wouldn't stick. He knew my name, so why didn't he address me by my name?

"May we come in," Mr. Crepsley asked. I, once again, felt a wave of familiarity and what could almost be called nostalgia wash over me while I was in the presence of Mr. Tall.

"Of course. What is it one is supposed to say to you vampire? Enter of your own free will?"

"Something like that." They both smiled and I wondered whether I would ever be in on an inside joke again. My friends all thought I was dead so I supposed it would be a while.

We went and sat down inside the mostly-bare van. "I didn't expect you back so soon, Larten," the enormous man commented.

"A swift return had not been on the agenda, Hibernius." Wow. It was rare to meet someone with a weirder name than mine.

They talked a little bit and I spaced out until I heard my name mentioned. "You have come a long way since I saw you last, Arden Peterson."

"Have I really? Huh. I don't think I've changed that much."

"Why did you leave, if I may ask?"

"Destiny wasn't kind to me."

He nodded slowly. "Destiny is rarely kind to anyone." he went on to welcome us because they were so understaffed and seemed happy that he had Mr. Crepsley and Madam Octa back. Personally, I would rather dumb that damn arachnid in a tank of toxic sewage, but Mr. Crepsley like her and I was left to care for her despite my phobia.

"Can the girl do any acts?" Mr. Tall asked.

"She can control spiders … either that or wrestle men to the floor, perhaps." The adults started laughing at my expense, which irked me but I kept my mouth shut so as not to make it worse.

When they were finally finished I commented on the area we were in. "So this is where we'll be performing?"

"Yes. the cirque always has guests but this is a slow time of year and as I said earlier, some of our performers are missing as are… certain other members of our company." with that, I felt left out once again as Mr. Crepsley found some meaning to that statement that I didn't.

"A few more minutes and the sun will be up," Mr. Crepsley announced. "I trust you took good care of my coffin?"

Mr. Tall nodded while staring extremely intently at me. It vaguely reminded me of when I had shown up at the show with Seth. He had been staring at me then, too.

Mr. Crepsley continued. "That is what I miss most when I am away. It will be nice to sleep in it once more."

"What about the girl?" Do you want us to knock together a coffin for her?"

"You don't have to. I really don't care either way." My last stay in a coffin had been unpleasant, but I attributed that to the fact that I had been unable to move.

"Put Arden with one of the other performers." Mr. Crepsley suggested. "Somebody her own age if possible."

"How about Evra?"

"Yes. I think putting her with Evra is a marvelous idea." Did I detect a hint of a smirk on his face?

They gave me direction to Evra's tent and shoved me out the door so that 'the adults could talk.' But, if they assumed that I was above eavesdropping they were terribly wrong. I gently pressed my ear against the door.

"Is something wrong with her, Larten? She's pale even for a vampire. She looks like she's lost weight - not a good thing because she was already skinny to begin with, and she has dark circles under her eyes."

"She hasn't been sleeping well, or drinking blood. She is an intelligent and well behaved child so I don't see why she would refuse to do something that was good for her."

Why would Mr. Tall bring up my health? I mentally sighed. Apart from learning that Mr. Tall wanted to know about my health, they weren't talking about anything I didn't already know.

As I walked into the tent to get an hour or two of shut eye, I saw a snake begin to wrap itself around my legs. "Sorry, Snakey, I'm not in the mood to play." I gently unwrapped in and collapsed in the hamock.

**Author's Note: Okay, I'm sorry that this is such a short chapter and I wanted it to be longer but I do believe that this is the best place to stop. I'm going to try to get through the second book pretty fast because in the entire series, it's one of my least favorite books. Anyway, my aunt is coming over and I won't be able to write fanfiction for a couple days.**


	17. Chapter 18

I felt a sharp jab in my side. "Just a few more minutes, Mr. Crepsley." I was jabbed again. "It's not even nightfall yet, Mr. Crepsley."

"I'm not Mr. Crepsley," someone said.

"Holy shit!" I immediately fell out of my hammock, jumping to my feet when I hit the ground.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I'm your new roommate. Arden Peterson."

"Arden Peterson. You're Mr. Crepsley's new assistant aren't you?"

"Wow, Sherlock. It sure took you a long time to figure that out." He appeared to be about my age, and by now it was obvious he was the Snake Boy from the show.

He glared at my comment, but didn't say anything about it. "Did he know Mr. Tall was putting you with me?"

"Yeah."

He laughed. "I never met a vampire without a nasty sense of humor."

"Figures," I snorted. "He was smirking." We instantly burst into laughter and began making fun of Mr. Crepsley. I liked him, and he was okay to hand out with, but he was just too easy to poke fun at with his slightly pompous manner.

As we stepped out of the tent together he said, "By the way, my name's Evra Von." We shook hands. "You hungry?"

"Evra, my foolish boy, you will soon learn that that is never a question you need to ask me." We walked up to a large campfire where Hans and Truska were cooking sausages. Yum. Plenty of calories there, and I knew I would need them, given the lack of blood I had been consuming lately.

"Good morning Evra." Evra was greeted by Hans. "Who's your young friend.

"This is Arden Peterson."

"_The_ Arden Peterson?" Hans' eyebrows raised.

"None other." Evra grinned.

"Okay, first, my name's not that common. Second, what do you mean _'The_ Arden Peterson'?"

"You're famous in these parts." Hans was happily eating his sausage and I stared at it hungrily, but he didn't notice.

"For what, exactly?"

"I've never seen or heard of someone your age living it up among the ranks of the walking dead. Tell me: Have the vampire Generals been around to inspect you yet?"

"Vampire Generals?" Now this was getting interesting. Who would've known that someone who wasn't even a vampire would know more about vampires than I did. It certainly wasn't fair.

"They're -"

"Hans! Do you think Larten would enjoy you spreading tales." Some lady washing clothes wasn't happy about it, but I wanted to learn something.

"Larten may not enjoy it, but I would," I said.

"I'd better not," said Hans nervously. "You definitely don't want to get Larten mad. Vampires can hold grudges for a long time."

"It seems dear Larten and I will have to have a conversation about the information he has been withholding from me."

As we ate, Evra began to see the true powers of a high metabolism. Meaning, he basically saw me stuff my face with food. He went pale. "I'll never ask you if you're hungry again."

I smiled. "Because the answer will always be yes!" He introduced me to everyone, but I knew that I would probably take months for me to learn everyone's name and face, I was terrible at remembering that kind of thing!

Mr. Tall soon appeared. One minute he wasn't there, the next second he was warming his hands by the fire. There was something off about him that I couldn't place. "You're up early, Miss Peterson," he remarked.

"Early to bed, early to rise, keeps a girl healthy, wealthy, and wise. That, and Evra gives the most delightful wakeup call!"

"I hope it will not affect your ability to work."

"Unlikely. Vampires can go days without any sleep at all, so I'm pretty sure I'm good on a few hours' worth."

"That's what I like to hear. Let's see what we can find for you to do today." He opened a small book." Are you a good cook?"

"Terrible. It took Mr. Crepsley months to teach me how to make a decent stew."

"Can you sew?"

"Sort of, but not really well."

"Have you washed clothes before?"

"Nope."

"Hmm." He snapped his book shut. "Okay, until we find a more permanent position for you, help Evra with his chores. Does that sound fair?"

"Sure."

"You don't mind, Evra?"

"Not at all," he replied.

"Very well. Evra will be in charge of you until further notice. do what he says. when your colleague-in-blood arises, you're free to spend the night with him if he so desires. We'll see how you do, then make a decision on how best to utilize your talents."

"Thanks."

"My pleasure." He walked away then, whistling, enjoying the sunshine.

Evra and I did mostly odd jobs throughout the day, and got to know each other. We got to be so comfortable around each other it was almost like being with Seth again. I was glad I could finally have a lasting friendship around someone other than Mr. Crepsley. Evra, unlike other boys his age, was very mature and I found him a very easy individual to talk to, making his company even more delightful.

Later that evening, I waited outside Mr. Crepsley's van. "Arden, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked when he finally came outside. He was on edge, though. I didn't usually wait for him.

"It would seem that you haven't told me all about vampires…"

"What did you see and or hear?"

"A little birdie told me that there was something called a Vampire General that my most beloved mentor forgot to mention."

"You don't need to know about Vampire Generals."

"Oh? So then, they aren't going to come and interrogate me for being blooded so young?"

He huffed. "There is nothing you need be concerned about for the time being."

"Fine. I'll find out on my own." I turned to leave by turned my head toward him as I left. "I'm not an idiot. Whatever it is, I'll find out eventually." I walked off into the night.

* * *

Over the next few days, I did notice a slight change from lack of blood. I felt weaker and my senses dulled, but I just had to live with it for now. Even so, I went out every night to see if I could drink human blood, failing to do so every single time.

As I was sitting with Evra, I noticed a boy in the bushes. Stealthy as he was, he still wasn't stealthy enough to avoid the notice of Evra, never mind a vampire. "Who's the kid?" I whispered.

"He's from a nearby village…"

"Hey kid!" I shouted, subtle as a rhino. "You know that spying is punishable by law, right?" I heard a little squeak from the bushes as the kid tried even harder to hide and pretend he wasn't there. "You're hiding skills are abysmal." We continued to ignore him after that until he got up the guts to come and sit with us.

"Here," said Evra. "Have a soda." He tossed the kid a can of Coke.

"My name's Sam Gress. Nice to meetcha!"

I gasped. "Evra! He speaks!" We laughed. "Arden Peterson."

"Evra Von." We all shook hands and Sam told us a little more about himself.

"So, are you guys part of the show. I know you're not tourists so…" Evra and I had heard his smarty pants sentences earlier, so we decided so spout a few of our own.

"We're masters of the macabre," I began.

"Agents of mutations," Evra said.

"And Lords of the surreal," we finished.

"A magic show?" Sam asked.

"No! A freak show." In all honesty, I felt little patience for Sam. It's not that I didn't like him, he just gave off the feeling of an annoying, clingy, younger sibling.

"So, like, two-headed men and weirdos like that?"

"Are you saying we're weird? And no, we are all prodigious artists performing our work, not just a bunch of people who were born a little different. We all have an otherworldly sort of magic to our acts. Mr. Tall, although I've never seen him before, is pretty much omnipresent!" Take that, Sam! He wasn't the only one with a few words up his sleeve.

We listed our performers for him. Evra mentioned a few I didn't know. He asked us if he could join, but Evra and I certainly weren't about to promise that. "I don't think so, Sam. There aren't that many people our age here. Maybe when you're older."

He ranted for a long time about age. "Sam," I interjected. "Believe it or not, you might find yourself regretting large decisions you make. There is a difference between being clever and being wise." I knew that all too well. I didn't necessarily regret my decision with Seth, but I had found myself in an unpleasant situation for a while. "Your frontal lobe isn't quite developed yet in your brain, so you aren't quite equipped to make big decisions and fully realize the consequences that come with those decisions." The kid was like, 10, so he probably had another good 10 years before it was fully developed.

* * *

We showed Sam around, and he asked if he could come around tomorrow. I was about to refuse, but Evra said he could come so I couldn't say no after that. At least I would only have to put up with same as long as the Cirque was here.

**Author's Note: Sorry for those of you who like Sam, but I don't. And seeing as how Arden's a very serious person, I doubt she would like Sam's demeanor. He doesn't think before he does anything…**


	18. Chapter 19

Evra and I were sitting and relaxing after another day with Sam. Evra had a little more tolerance for the boy than I had, though. And even worse, Sam seemed to like me a lot despite the fact that I hardly ever spoke to him. My face must have betrayed my thoughts of dislike because Evra said, "You don't like that kid much? Do you, Arden?" He laughed as if it were all very funny.

"Nope. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way."

"It's really weird talking to you when you have your earbuds in. I sometimes wonder if you can hear me."

"I'm a vampire and I have the volume as low as it can go. Don't worry, I can hear you perfectly."

He shrugged. "It's just weird that…"

I noticed he had trailed off and noticed that his head had turned a direction completely away from me. I followed his gaze to see a flickering torch in the distance.

"Who wanders around in the dark with a torch?"

"It's a torch? All I see a flickering light."

"Yes. I'm sure. Aside from the light, I can also smell the smoke from here." We watched the torch intently as it drew closer and closer. Beneath the branches of the trees, I noticed - long before Evra - that there were figures moving around. I couldn't really identify what they were. I guessed that there were probably over eight figures moving around, but it was really hard to tell.

They came into our clearing, stepping out of the underbrush, and I recognized them as the hooded people who had acted as assistants-of-sorts at the show. It was odd that I hadn't remembered them. Extremely odd, considering I usually had an excellent memory, even under stress. Despite how hectic that night had been, I should have remembered these silent creatures.

I had been right in my estimate of over eight. There were 12, coming out in pairs, and the thirteenth member of their party turned out to be the one carrying the torch.

While taller than the hooded people, this man was still really short. He looked to be a little under a foot shorter than me, putting him at about 4' 5" compared to my 5' 2". He had white hair, but didn't really have the look of an old man. You could tell right away that he wasn't feeble, although he seemed to waddle as he walked. Other than that, he dressed pretty weird, an ugly yellow suit, green rubber boots, and really thick glasses.

As he passed, he looked me straight in the eye and a massive wave of nausea passed through me and I ran to a bush to be sick. I puked a couple more times, and stood up. He was still standing there, near Evra, who was paralyzed with what seemed to be fear. He gave me an odd smile that was pleasant and yet menacing at the same time as he headed towards Mr. Tall's van.

He had a strange and indistinguishable aura emanating from him. The only word I could find for it was _unpleasant._ I didn't like this man; this I knew right away, but who _was_ he?

"Evra, who was that." I still had a little remaining queasiness so my words didn't come out very clearly, but I knew that he had heard me, yet he didn't say anything. "What's going on? Why are you so scared.

Evra was barely able to get a word out. "He…It…_That_ was _Mr. Tiny."_

* * *

It took a while for Evra to calm down and explain to me why this Mr. Tiny scared the living shit out of him.

He explained everything and it only made my aversion towards the tiny man stronger. He also told me that it was strange that none had been here when Mr. Crepsley and I had arrived.

"You don't think it had something to do with me and Mr. Crepsley coming do you?"

"I doubt it. It was probably just a coincidence. Or fate."

"Fate?" I asked skeptically. I wasn't religious, I wasn't superstitious, I just didn't believe in any of that business. True, I had mentioned destiny a couple of times, but only when I was being slightly sarcastic, or when I thought it added a nice effect to what I happened to be saying at the moment.

"Which is another thing," Evra began again. "Mr. Tiny's first name is Desmond."

"And?"

"He tells people to call him Des."

"Again: And?"

"Put that together with his last name. Mr. Des Tiny."

"Mr. Destiny," I whispered. No wonder Mr. Crepsley had looked so creeped-out when I said our destiny awaited us. It had made him think of Mr. Tiny. There was definitely something about Mr. Tiny that didn't quite seem right. He seemed like a cruel kind of person, though all I knew about him was what Evra had told me.

However, the little people weren't to be overlooked as far as danger goes. He told me the story of Bradley Stretch, and we laughed until our spleens almost exploded. I didn't feel bad laughing about him, obviously, though I supposed that any decent person would have some remorse about laughed at the dead.

Hans entered. "What's the joke?" We only began laughing harder, having long ago been laying on the floor. Neither of us could even stand. He, Hans, had been smiling, but after our fit of hysterics was over, he turned very serious. "I have a message for you two. Mr. Tall wants you to report to his van as soon as possible."

"What's up, Hans?" Evra asked. "Why does he want us?" Now that I thought about it, it had almost seemed that Mr. Tall had been ignoring and avoiding me lately. I didn't mind, but it seemed he almost went out of his way to do it.

"_Mr. Tall_, doesn't. Mr. Tiny is with him, and _he's_ the one who wants you."

Hans quickly exited our tent, and Evra seemed to be at a loss for words. I wasn't saying anything either, but then again, there wasn't much to say at this point. We had to go and see Mr. Tiny.

* * *

Mr. Tall, Mr. Crepsley, and Mr. Tiny were in the van when we entered. The latter one being most unwelcome here, in my opinion.

Evra and I were both nervous, thought Evra seemed to be the more skittish of the two of us. However, we weren't the only ones on edge. Both Mr. Tall and Mr. Crepsley looked extremely uncomfortable around the little man.

"Come in," Mr. Tall said gravely. "Sit down, make yourselves at home." Make ourselves at home? Yes, that was really likely. I barely knew Mr. Tall, but that was nothing compared to the fact that Mr. Tiny was in the room.

The nausea hit me again, but it wasn't as bad as before and my stomach was pretty much empty now, so vomiting was pretty unlikely.

"I'll stand, if that's okay," stuttered Evra.

"I'll stand," I said tersely. I fixed my gaze on Mr. Tiny in an almost defiant way. I was determined not to let him scare me.

"As you wish," said Mr. Tiny with an extremely unpleasant grin. "I've been hearing a lot about you, young Arden Peterson." I remained silent as he fiddled with his heart-shaped watch. His watch gave me the creeps almost as much as the little old man himself. "You're quite the girl, by all accounts," he went on. "A most remarkable young woman. Sacrificed everything to save a friend. There aren't many who would do as much. People are so self-centered these days. It's good to see the world can still produce heroes."

"You don't seem to have much confidence in mankind," I said, ignoring his compliment.

"And you do?"

"Not really, admittedly. But, I think, when given the chance, anyone can rise to the occasion and surprise even themselves."

"Interesting." There was a nasty gleam in his eye. "Larten tells me you're reluctant to drink human blood." I stiffened. "I don't blame you. Nasty, repulsive stuff. Can't stand it. Apart from young children, of course. Their blood is scrump-dilly-icious."

"You're not supposed to drink from a small child. If you did, you'd kill it." My sentence was an accusation if there ever was one.

"And?" he asked softly.

"Just stating fact," I replied stiffly. I _hated_ this man. I hated his very presence, and I unknowingly shifted my weight away from him.

There are few people in the world who are truly evil; some are crazy, others just angry, but if there was such a thing as evil, he was the incarnate of it.

"You know, your face seems familiar. Have we met before, Arden Peterson?"

"I doubt it."

"Are you certain? You look very familiar."

"I would have remembered." I kept my voice very steady.

"You can't always trust memory. It can be a deceptive monster. Still, no matter, perhaps we knew each other in another life." Mr. Tall flinched and glared disapprovingly at Mr. Tiny. "Down to business. You two saw me arrive with my Little People. They're new converts to my cause and are a little unsure of the ropes. Normally I'd stick around and teach them how to work, but I have business elsewhere. Still, they're smart and I'm sure they'll learn."

He continued. "However, while they're learning, I'd like it if you two fine, young people would help ease them into the swing of things. You won't have to do much. Mainly, I want you to find food for them. They have such big appetites.

"How about it? I've got the permission of your guardians." He nodded towards Mr. Tall and Mr. Crepsley, who didn't seem happy at all about the arrangement, but looked resigned. I noticed that I had never seem Mr. Crepsley look this pissed off before.

Evra nodded right away, but I didn't. "What would finding food entail?" I asked. Then, my body felt like it was about to be crushed. It didn't want to move, it didn't want to speak, it didn't want to do anything.

"Excuse me?" asked Mr. Tiny. Now he looked slightly pissed off, too.

"What…" I gasped. "Would… that…entail?" Breathing was difficult and I had a terrible headache, but I wasn't going to do what Mr. Tiny asked without knowing what I had to do first. Mr. Tall looked absolutely incredulous.

"They eat meat. Fresh off the bones, though the actual flesh doesn't have to be fresh."

"So I'd… have to kill animals?"

"Yes."

"No thank you, then. I don't intend to go twisting the necks of little squirrels anytime soon, so Evra's help will just have to do." I turned to Mr. Tall. "I'm sorry, I just don't feel comfortable with the job, though I will be more than happy to make up for the work elsewhere." Mr. Tall looked like he could kiss me, he was so happy.

Mr. Tiny looked livid. "By the way," I continued bravely. "Why do you call them Little People?"

"Remember, Arden Peterson: Curiosity killed the cat."

"I'm not a cat, and didn't you hear the news? Curiosity was framed and has been cleared of all murder charges."

"You might just find yourself turned into one, if you're not careful with that mouth of yours. Nothing in life is forever, not even human form."

"Well, if I turn into a cat, then I'm sure there must be a way out there to turn back." I had no idea where all this boldness and sass was coming from, but I sure as hell wasn't going to put up with his threats.

After Mr. Tiny had left, Mr. Crepsley caught me before I went to bed. I waved to Evra, "I'll be there in a minute. Don't wait up."

"No lessons tonight," said Mr. Crepsley. "What in the world were you thinking? I've never seen anyone in the world talk to Desmond like you did tonight." I couldn't comprehend whether he was telling me off or giving me praise.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked.

"I really don't know. Though I will say one thing, it would not be wise to continue speaking to him as you did earlier. Desmond Tiny is not someone to get angry."

"I could tell that much. When he first came into camp, I had to run over to some bushes to be sick. I don't like him."

"No one does. Any vampire, human, or otherwise that has an ounce of sense is afraid of Desmond Tiny." He coughed. "Do not ever do that again," he said quietly.

I raised my eyebrows. "Were you afraid Desmond Tiny was going to kill me?" His neck, his face, and his ears all went extremely red.

"Do not be foolish. I simply do not wish to lose an assistant."

I knew I would probably regret this later, but I gave him a hug. "Thanks for being worried about me."

The minute I stepped into my tent, Evra was there to greet me. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? Are you suffering from insanity or something."

"I don't suffer from insanity," I said. "I enjoy every minute of it."

* * *

_My dream that night started off pretty pleasantly. I was walking through an extremely blurry forest, almost as if I wasn't quite there._

_The sky had a funny hue to it, like it tends to have when the sun is about to set, but you can't see it because the sky has an opaque layer of clouds covering it._

_However, there were a couple of things that were strange. First, I was wearing something that I would probably never wear: A flowing white dress. It was pretty, but not really my style. It went all the way to my ankles, and the loose, flowing fabric clung slightly to me._

_Plus, I was wearing flowers in my hair, and I was walking through a forest barefoot. _

_Then, I entered what I instinctively knew to be the center of the forest. The trees here were dying, and their bare branches had long ago been abandoned by their leaves, which were now strewn all over the ground._

_My surroundings cleared, and sitting, waiting for me on an old and moss-covered stone bench, was Mr. Tall._

_"Ah, Arden. Come and sit with me." He didn't seem to notice how weird my garments were. "It's amazing. You have begun to fight Destiny. Not many people have the guts to stand up to Mr. Tiny."_

_"What do you mean, fight Destiny?"_

_"You've started off small, obviously, and it's going to take some practice, but I think you have a chance."_

_"What's going on?"_

_He wrapped an arm around me. "I understand how hard it must be to be you and not be you at the same time. You both are and aren't Darren Shan. I'm sorry you had this Destiny thrust upon you, but you have gifts that Darren never had access to. You'll just have to try and see past the headaches whenever they occur."_

_"What gifts? How do you know about my headaches?"_

_"You'll find out in time."_

_"You're a big help," I said sarcastically._

_He smiled, then he pulled out an ancient-looking pocket watch that began to glow black. "I have to go, Arden. Congratulation on your first small victory!"_

_I fainted. Can you faint in a dream? I guess you can. When I woke up, I was in skinny jeans and a tight sweater, which was definitely more along the lines of something I would wear._

_I also noticed that it was dark, and I was surrounded by hundreds of corridors of mirrors. "Where am I?" While all my reflections were silent, I could see all their mouths moving._

_Suddenly, all my reflections but the one in front of me disappeared. I turned to face the Arden in the mirror. My image shifted to that of the boy I had seen in other dreams of mine. But, he, like any reflection would, did everything I did. I raised an arm, he raised an arm. _

_Then, he pointed to himself and then me and said Darren when he pointed at each of us._

_After that, all the mirrors shattered, leaving me in complete darkness, hearing only the malevolent voice of Mr. Tiny laughing as he squeezed my heart and brain, causing agony in both my chest and head._


	19. Chapter 20

I was currently 'enjoying' my least favorite activity: hanging out with Sam. Evra being there only made it _just_ bearable. We were walking towards an abandoned railway station, which would have been so much more exciting if the thorn in my side known as Sam wasn't there. I could smell something odd in the air which _almost_ smelled like B.O.

I covered my nose with my hands. "Evra, do you smell that?"

By now he must have noticed it. Sure enough. "Yeah. What do you think it is?"

I was just about ready to throw up, the scent was so strong, and suffocating. Sam, however, hadn't noticed the offensive scent that was accosting our nostrils. "What's wrong, guys? Why did you - "

"Gotcha!" someone yelled, as I was tackled. I fell really hard on the ground when the heavy and malodorous person landed on me. They were so much larger and heavier that I nearly broke my arm, and as it was I yelled out in pain.

Suddenly, my attacker was crouched beside me, a look of concern etched on his face. "Oh, hey, man, I didn't hurt you, did I?" He didn't sound threatening, and my life wasn't in danger whether he was or not, because I was a vampire. "I didn't mean to freak you out. I was just trying to scare you a little, man, for fun."

I sat up carefully, rubbing my tender arm. "I'm okay, just next time, don't land on the person with the smallest bone frame." This man was built large, while I was built really tiny, so that didn't really help.

"You sure? It ain't broken is it? I've got herbs that can help, if it is."

"Herbs can't fix broken bones," Sam said defiantly.

"He said help, not fix you idiot," I muttered under my breath.

"They sure can't," the large man agreed. "But they can elevate you to planes of consciousness where worldly concerns like broken bones are nothing but minor blips on the cosmic map." He paused to stroke his overgrown beard.

I gave him a funny look. "You mean drugs." It wasn't even a question. I was a little self-satisfied to see Sam and Evra looking puzzled by smelly man's sentence.

"Of course, they burn out your brain cells, too… yeah drugs. Shhh, don't tell."

"My arm'll be fine in a little bit. No broken bones... not that those hurt very much either. I'm pretty immune to a lot of pain."

"Man, that's good to hear," the stranger said. "I'd hate to be the cause of bodily harm. Hurt's a bad trip man." I had carefully been inching away from him to keep the nausea away - he had to be the smelliest person I'd ever met! "Are you guys locals?" he asked cheerily.

"I am, but these guys are with the circus." Circus? Wow, Sam may know a few big words but he sure wasn't the brightest. We were _not_ a circus.

"Circus?" Smelly smiled. "There's a circus around here? Oh, man, how did I miss it? I love the circus. I never pass up a chance to see the clowns in action."

"You didn't see a circus because there isn't a circus. We're a freak show." I stared at him for a moment. "And clowns are creepier than most of our acts." He smiled at my small joke.

Then he turned serious. "A freak show?" He stared at Sam, and then at Evra, whose appearance easily marked him as one of the performers. And then he stared at me, the pale, shoeless wonder. (My socks had become so worn that they were pretty useless and wearing shoes without socks was uncomfortable, so I had taken to walking around barefoot like Evra.) However, he turned to Evra. "Are you a part of the freak show, man?"

Evra nodded. "They don't mistreat you, do they? they don't whip you or under-feed you or make you do things you don't want to?"

"No."

"You're there of your own free will?"

"Yes. All of us are. It's our home."

"We're like blood relatives," I added, sneaking Evra a grin and he smiled, getting the joke. "Mr. Tall's cool, he treats us all well."

"Oh," Smelly said with a smile. "Well, that's okay. you hear rumors about those small traveling shows…"

"It's okay. I know what you mean, but we're not like any other freak show out there!" My latest comment was true. I'm sure there weren't any vampires at any of the other freak shows in the world.

Suddenly, Smelly slapped his forehead. "Oh man, I haven't introduced myself, have I? I'm so dumb sometimes. R.V.'s the name?"

"R.V.? That's a funny name," remarked Sam.

"Well," he said, cheeks turning red. "It's short for Reggie Veggie."

"Wow." That was all I could say. Someone really hated this man in high school. It turned out I was right when he told us why he was called that. I really felt sorry for the guy, being made fun of just because he was a vegetarian.

When we agreed to call him by his preferred nickname, he brightened up quite a bit. "So, that's my name out in the open. How about you three?"

"Sam Grest."

"Evra Von." He asked Evra Von what, just like Sam had before him, and I prided myself on not asking him that question myself.

"I'm Arden Peterson." As I shook his hand, I could feel and hear his pulse - wanting his blood so badly, but not being able to drink it.

"You sure they're not underfeeding you? You look awful pale, skinny, and sickly."

I tried to smile reassuringly. At least the pale and skinny part had nothing to do with not being able to drink blood. "Don't worry, I'm always pale. And, I eat more than these two put together, because I have a really high metabolism."

He offered to take us to his camp and we jumped at the opportunity. Then, as we were walking there, he told us he was an eco-warrior and wouldn't shut up about it. I was already perfectly aware of everything he pointed out, and I had always done little things to help the environment as a human, but I had other things on my mind at the moment.

We ate the food at the camp, me happily, and Evra and Sam, hesitantly. "Wow," said R.V. "Now I know what you mean when you say you have a really high metabolism." It was a fun way to spend an otherwise boring afternoon, and having R.V. there meant one more person to talk to instead of Sam.

As we were walking towards the Cirque, Sam started saying how strange R.V. was. "Can you imagine giving up everything to go off and fight for animals and the countryside."

"Well, let's try to think of a worse scenario. Becoming a vampire!" I was constantly bringing up vampire stuff in front of Sam and he was none-the wiser of my nocturnal condition.

"He's doing what he believes in," Evra said.

"I know," continued Sam. "I think it's cool that he's doing it. We need people like him. It's too bad there aren't more of them. Still it's a weird way to live, don't you think? You'd have to be pretty dedicated. I don't think _I _could be an environmental warrior."

I shrugged. I had lived sort of like that with Mr. Crepsley for a while, and it wasn't so bad except for the lack of showers.

Evra wasn't hesitant at all. "I could."

"No, I'm afraid you couldn't, Evra my good man."

"Why not?" he asked me. "I could take my snake and live with them and fight with them."

"No you couldn't," I persisted.

"Why not?

"You're not smelly enough!" We all laughed.

"They were a little on the crunchy-granola side, weren't they?"

"I was nauseous."

"Still, I can think of lots of worse ways to spend my time when I grow up. I'd kind of like to be like R.V." We all nodded at his comment, but I doubted that I would really fit in anywhere besides the Cirque. Besides, with the eco-warriors they might wonder why I didn't age that much after a decade.

* * *

Time passed lazily. Cormac Limbs came back and Mr. Tall announced that we would be performing. Mr. Crepsley said that I would be in the show, too, as his assistant. And, if I wanted, I could also perform my own act doing some 'magic tricks.' Mr. Tall wasn't complaining about me being young to have my own part of the show because, as he said, we were severely understaffed at the moment. Even he, Mr. Tall, would be performing.

Unfortunately, this meant that I would have to get dolled up the event. Meaning, I would have to wear a dress. _Oh, joy,_ I though sarcastically. Even Sam and R.V. had tickets to this affair.

I trudged off to Truska's tent, where I had been ordered to go for my costume. Apparently, she had an excellent dress for me and all she had to do was make the final adjustments on the measurements that she had made earlier that day.

When I slipped it on, I felt like a different person. Which I supposed it was good, considering I'd be on stage and had to act the part.

It was a lovely black dress which went a little below the knees and had three sexy slits on my sides, just below the ribs. Thin straps, tight until it reached my hips, where it became loose and flowing, this dress truly had been made for me. I looked older in it, which was a good thing because I would be in this freak show for a good long while, I hoped.

Throw in a pair of black heels and I was ready for the show. I still wasn't _too_ pretty because I had to look a little morbid. I was no longer Arden Peterson : The Vampiress, I was Arden Peterson: The Spider Trainer and Magician.

Even Mr. Crepsley's mouth dropped a little when he saw me. Oh yeah, I always wore baggy stuff and never really tried to look good so I guess it would come as a shock to them that I wasn't really bad looking. "Polish Madam Octa's cage," he ordered.

It was amazing, the show was even better watching it the second time. Maybe it was because I knew all the people involved and I knew I wasn't going to get in trouble for coming to watch it.

Mr. Crepsley's show was before mine, so I walked out on the stage with him and the spider, assisting him and most certainly no watching when she killed the goat. That last thing I needed was to look squeamish on the stage. Sam and R.V. seemed surprised at first to see that I was part of the show, but looked happy to see me there.

It was easy to keep straight-faced, like Mr. Crepsley had told me to. Especially when I was making her spin the web in his mouth. Then a strange voice entered my head.

_You could kill him you know._

_But I like Mr. Crepsley. He's never been horrible to me apart from the Seth incident._

_Just make her bite him. Nobody would be able to prove it wasn't an accident._

_I don't want to kill him!_

The voice went away and my vision blurred and I felt feverish. I definitely didn't want to kill Mr. Crepsley. He was actually pretty nice and I didn't mind being his assistant so much.

After his act, Mr. Crepsley looked at me with concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I just don't like spiders."

"Then why did you….?"

"Take her in the first place? Even I cannot answer that, Mr. Crepsley, because I have no idea."

I sprinted onstage and to the humans it must have seemed as if I had suddenly appeared out of thin air. I did card tricks and all sorts of things that looked like magic to the humans but was really just me moving very quickly.

Mr. Crepsley had taught me all of this shortly after I became his assistant, because I had asked how he did it all. Mentally, throughout the show, I had been completely out of it. I did everything right, and the audience loved my performance, but I still didn't feel right.

I would never kill Mr. Crepsley. I had come to be fond of him, and I enjoyed his company, so why would thoughts like that appear in my head. It was all so confusing.

I watched the entire show, including Evra's act. He congratulated me on the show later, but I really didn't feel like talking. Unfortunately, as I was about to make my escape to my tent, Sam stopped me.

"Arden! You were amazing and you're so pretty! Why don't you always dress like this?"

"It's too much hassle,"I muttered. "And my normal clothes are more comfortable."

"Good job," said R.V. "Hey, you don't mistreat that spider do you? Is she always in a cage?"

"She is. But Mr. Crepsley has a larger cage in his van. We can't let her wander because she really is deadly."

"She is?" asked Sam. "I don't believe you! I bet there's an antidote somewhere!"

"There _was_ an antidote somewhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone was bitten by the spider and now the antidote is gone."

"Oh. Who?" He seemed so excited to find out who that I was disgusted.

"My best friend. He nearly died, so don't act as if it is really cool. It wasn't cool to see him in the hospital hooked up to every machine they had there." I hurried off to my tent to escape Sam and hopefully to go to sleep to escape the painful memories. Sorry Evra, you'll have to deal with R.V. by yourself.

**Author's Note: Wow. We're already at chapter 20. Thanks to those of you who have stuck with my story from the beginning and thanks to those of you who joined somewhere along the way. Your reviews make me the happiest person on the planet. **

**By the way, I'm trying to get through the second book as soon as I can, because it really wasn't my favorite. I liked the third book a lot better and you're going to have lots of chapters for that one!**


	20. Chapter 21

Evra didn't look happy with me the next day. "Hey, Arden, why did you bail on me? I had to try and explain away the wolf man and my snake to R.V. Of course, my snake was easy. All I had to do was show how she sleeps with me and he was fine. I had to lie about the wolf man and the goat, though."

"Sorry," I said quietly. "Sam just pushed a little far - seemed to think it was cool that Madam Octa is so poisonous."

"Oh, yeah. Your friend was bitten, wasn't he?"

"Yeah. But I guess we'll have to be careful about R.V."

"We can handle it." He was confident about that. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. Seth's just a touchy subject."

I did work all day and avoided Sam completely when he came to the camp. I didn't want to talk to Mr. Crepsley either; it's really hard to talk to a person when you almost killed him when you didn't want to kill him in the first place. If that makes sense, which I know it doesn't.

He walked over to me and I didn't have the energy to try and escape. I hadn't been feeling well lately so I couldn't manage any kind of snarky façade, either. "What do you want?" I asked wearily.

"Stand over here, where I can see you better." He tilted my head around, rolled up my eyelids, peered down my throat, and checked my pulse and reflexes. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Worn out."

"Weak? Sick?"

I wouldn't even try to hide it. "Yeah."

He grunted disapprovingly. "Have you been drinking much blood lately?"

"Not really. I've been drinking from animals, but no humans." I was absolutely horrified with myself. If things got much worse, then I would have to tell Mr. Crepsley about my inability. I was getting to the point that I didn't care if he thought I was crazy, if he somehow forced some blood down my throat.

He saw the ashamed look in my eyes, so he didn't criticize, but he said, "Get ready. We are going out."

"Where? Hunting?"

He shook his head. "To see a friend." Huh, I wasn't aware that Mr. Crepsley had any friends outside the Cirque. He was a nice guy, but not really the type to have many friends.

But, we flitted until we reached a city, where we slowed down, and he stopped outside the back of a tall building. A hospital maybe? I wanted to ask questions but wasn't much in the mood for talking and I figured that Mr. Crepsley would tell me eventually anyway.

He took me into the building and silently led me up to a white desk. Making sure we were alone, Mr. Crepsley then rang the bell at the desk.

A figure appeared behind the glass wall - a brown-haired man in scrubs of sorts. "How may I -" He stopped abruptly, apparently recognizing Mr. Crepsley. "Larten Crepsley! what are you doing here, you old devil?" He looked pleasantly surprised and I assumed that this was the 'friend' Mr. Crepsley had been talking about.

Both of them were grinning broadly as they shook hands. Wow, I had never seen Mr. Crepsley smile quite like this. It was almost as if he were a different person. "Hello Jimmy. Long time no see."

"Not as long as I thought it would be. I heard you'd been killed. An old enemy finally rammed a stake through your rotten heart, or so the story went."

I gave a small giggle. "You should not believe everything you hear," Mr. Crepsley said. He nudged me forward. "Jimmy, this is Arden Peterson, a traveling companion of mine. Arden, this is Jimmy Ovo, an old friend and the world's finest pathologist."

"Hello," I said with a smile. "And I knew 'traveling companion' may sound perversly like something more, but we are really just traveling companions." Mr. Crepsley turned extremely red. Apparently, he hadn't heard how his words could be misconstrued.

"Pleased to meet you." Jimmy let out a small chuckle about my comment and then turned serious. "You aren't a … I mean, do you belong to _the club?"_

"The club?" I asked innocently.

"She is a vampire." Mr. Crepsley still looked a little flustered from what I said earlier.

"Only a half vampire, though," I said dreamily. "Otherwise, Mr. Crepsley would be telling me more about being a vampire." Then I muttered, "Vampire Generals," so quietly that only Mr. Crepsley would have heard me, because Jimmy Ovo was obviously human.

Jimmy winced playfully. "Please don't use that word. I know what you guys are, and I'm fine with it, but that 'V' word never fails to freak me out. I think it's because of all the horror movies I watched when I was a kid. I know you're not like those movie monsters, but it's hard to get the image out of my mind."

Jimmy led us to where the corpses were kept, and it wasn't really morbid at all. How disappointing. Though, maybe it was only because of my almost creepy sense of humor that I found that disappointing.

"You look a little dissatisfied," Jimmy laughed.

"Let's just say my sense of humor is a little off. Would it be terribly insensitive to say 'how's business'," I asked with a snicker.

"Nope. Business is pretty slow. By the way," He turned to Mr. Crepsley. "I had an old friend of yours in here a few years back."

"Oh?" Mr. Crepsley responded politely. "Who was that?" Another friend of Mr. Crepsley's I didn't know about? I was seriously out of the loop.

Jimmy sniffed heavily through his nose, then cleared his throat, sounding like he was breathing really heavily. _"Gavner Purl?" _Mr. Crepsley was delighted to say the least as he laughed. "How is the old dog- as clumsy as ever?"

They began chatting about Gavner Purl, whoever he was, and I spaced out until they were finished. Then I heard Mr. Crepsley say, "Any fresh bodies in stock?"

Jimmy consulted some kind of pad and said, "There's a man in his thirties. Died in a car crash just over eight hours ago."

"Nothing fresher?"

"Afraid not."

"It will have to do."

I snapped out of my stupor. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Drinking from a corpse is a little on the weird side, even for us, isn't it?"

"I am not drinking directly from him, I have merely come for a refill." He pulled out some of the small bottles where he stored his supply of human blood.

"Still weird."

"Surely you do not object?"

"Nope, it's just a little on the… icky…side."

"Icky?" he chuckled.

"Yes icky, for lack of better words."

Mr. Crepsley filled quite a few bottles with the blood of the man. I didn't mind it, I just didn't see why Mr. Crepsley had dragged me along to reminisce with old buddies and to fill up on blood. Though, it is truly impossible to describe how much I wanted that blood. To see it traveling through the tubes was simply mouthwatering and irresistible.

He tasted the blood. "Good. It is pure. We can use it." After he was finished, he turned to me. "Arden, I know you are reluctant to drink human blood, but it is time you got over your fear."

"I'm not afraid," I stated.

"Then why will you not drink?" he demanded.

"I can't."

"You always say that you cannot and I would like to know why. Is it because this person is dead? If it is, you know that his blood is not good to him anymore."

"I'm quite aware."

"You have to drink sometime!"

Jimmy squirmed uncomfortably. "I want to drink. More than anything in the world, I want to drink, but you don't seem to understand that I. Just. Can't!"

It was awkward when he flitted with me back to the Cirque. We didn't speak until it was almost dawn. "If you did, it is not my fault."

"Were you under the impression that I would hold you responsible?"

"Stupid girl." He stormed off to his coffin, and I was actually touched that he was so concerned about me. How long would I wait until I told him about my difficulties in feeding? How long would I wait to tell him it wasn't my fault?"

**Author's Note: How many of you have heard that Darren Shan's writing a series about Mr. Crepsley? *girlish shriek* Mr. Crepsley is awesome and one of my favorite characters so I am very excited. The series comes out in October! Happy birthday to me! (Literally, my birthday is in October, so I will likely get it as a birthday present.)**

**Anyway, on a more unhappy note, I am going on a vacation and will not be back for a number of weeks. So, I will not be able to update while I'm gone. Sorry in advance for the long wait and I hope you guys don't ditch this story because of that. Reviews, though, will only make me update faster once I get back. (Seriously, I'm always in more of a mood to write when I get reviews in my email.)**


	21. Chapter 22

Evra's snake was sick and I tried to help him with it as much as I could, until she bit me. I didn't mind - her poison didn't affect me much - but I figured it probably wouldn't be good for me to be bitten again. I walked outside, holding a piece of cloth to the bite to stop the bleeding, and I saw Sam.

He was staring at his feet and his cheeks were really red in embarrassment. "Hi, Arden," he said quietly. "What happened to your arm?"

"Evra's snake bit me. I'm fine, though."

"Look, I'm sorry about the other night."

I stared at him for a moment. "It's just a touchy subject." I paused. "And I really don't want to talk about it."

"That's fine. Do you wanna check out that deserted railroad station."

"Fine." I didn't really have much of a choice, it's not like I could say 'Sorry, Sam, but I don't want to go just because I find you an annoying git'."

I found it a pleasant place to be. Nature was taking over and it has sort of an 'ancient ruins' feel to it. We hadn't talked since the show so he asked me a lot of questions about it. "So are you a sorceress or something?"

"Or something."

"How do you do all those tricks?"

"I do all my tricks very quickly." He wouldn't catch the double meaning - and so my favorite game began: Let's see how many vampire hints I can drop that Sam will completely miss!

He quickly realized that I wouldn't give him a straight answer about anything in the show so he gave up after about five questions. "You look kinda sick."

"I know. I always look kinda sick."

"More than usual." Damn it, he was onto something. I was increasingly aware of my health declining, and every time I looked in the mirror I appeared to be just a little more sickly - a product of my not drinking blood, no doubt.

I ignored him and he tried balancing on the railroad tracks. After a few minutes he fell off and I gave him a smirk. "Watch this." I, too, was going to try and balance on the railroad tracks with only one difference - I would be walking on my hands.

I actually ended up doing pretty well, staying upright longer than Sam had on his feet, and he gave me a worshipping look. "How did you do that?"

"I've always had a good sense of balance, and you pick up a thing or two when traveling with a freak show." I had always had an excellent sense of balance, which had only increased when I had become a vampire.

"You know what?" I looked at him cautiously. "We should become blood brothers!"

I sighed sadly. "There's only one problem with that Sam."

"What?"

"I'm a girl!"

"I know that, but I don't know what it's called when it's a boy and a girl!"

"Blood siblings?"

"Maybe. So what do you say?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I have hepatitis."

"You do not!"

"How do you know? Are you going to risk exposure?" He shouldn't risk exposure, but not to hepatitis. He would become a partial vampire if I blooded him. I had asked Mr. Crepsley about it once and he had given me all the details.

Suddenly, I felt woozy. My vision spun, I couldn't breathe, I was nauseous, and I fell over. Sam rushed over and tried to help me up. "Oh my god! What wrong, Arden?"

"I'll be fine."

"You fainted!"

"I did not faint! I'm still conscious, if you'd notice," I muttered. I felt better now and I was able to walk. "I think I'll just walk back to the Cirque."

"Wait!" I turned around. "I want to join the Cirque du Freak."

"I don't know if I can help you with that, Sam" Nor did I really _want_ to help him with that. The only reason I put up with him was because I assumed in another few days I would never see him again.

"I know you could get me in!"

"It's not that easy," I said wearily.

"Yes it is! You can talk to the owner and put in a good word for me. Come on, Arden! Pleeeeaaaaasssseeee?"

"I can't make any guarantees but I'll talk to Mr. Tall." If he would talk to me, that is. He was still avoiding me. "Just don't ask me again once I've given you his answer."

Suddenly I smelled something awful - it was R.V.'s scent. "Maybe there's a job for me, too," he asked.

Sam jumped but I had been expecting the smelly hippie. "It's rare for Mr. Tall to take in new people. I was just telling Sam how unlikely it would be for Mr. Tall to let him join."

I was still tired from my collapse, and Sam must have noticed because he said, "Arden, you really should be getting back to the Cirque."

"What's the rush?" asked R.V.

"Arden almost fainted!"

"Shut up, Sam," I growled.

R.V. looked like he was about to say something, then he paused. "If you're sick, I'll skip right to the point, then. I'm suspicious, Arden." He listed what he had been doing and said he was staying behind.

"Your snooping won't receive a warm welcome, R.V."

He gave me a critical eye. "You sure they're not mistreating you?"

"I'm sure."

"Because, man, if they are then I can help you."

"They aren't. And you can't help me. I'm just really sick." I turned around and walked back to the Cirque.

* * *

I couldn't find Mr. Tall, but when I saw Mr. Crepsley, I asked him, none too enthusiastically, if Sam could join the Cirque. He told me the only way Sam could join the Cirque would be if he, Mr. Crepsley, became Sam's guardian. And the only way that would happen would be if Sam became a vampire. Not gonna happen. And besides, I wouldn't wish Sam upon Mr. Crepsley. Mr. Crepsley would go insane with annoyance.

I told him about the incident with the near blooding today, and he chuckled slightly about my hepatitis comment. However, I did leave out the part where I almost fainted. It was far too embarrassing.

Eventually I drifted off to sleep. (I was sleeping in Mr. Crepsley's van because Evra's snake was in a foul mood and would likely bite me again.)

Sometime in the middle of the night, something was shoved down my throat and I tasted blood. It was heavenly and I managed to gulp a few mouthfuls down before involuntarily coughing up the bottle that was in my mouth. Whoever had shoved the bottle in my mouth swore and slumped back. "At least, if nothing else, you drank a little." It was Mr. Crepsley.

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?"

"Making me drink."

"I thought you did not wish to drink?"

"I do, I just can't."

"I do not understand you, Arden Peterson."

"Join the club. I really do appreciate it, though." He cared about me. He cared if I lived or died. It felt nice to know that even though he had torn me away from all I knew, he would never be horrible to me. It could be worse.

He stared at me curiously, and it was obvious he was wondering how I could want to drink blood, but yet be unable to. I would wait only a few more days before telling him all about my dilemma.

**Author's Note: I'm back from my vacation! And despite being in sunny California and Arizona, I am no more tan than I was when I left. Someone said on their review that I have a lot of mistakes in my writing. And yes, I know I do, but my spellcheck is seriously lacking, so I apologize for all the typos in my story. **

**School will be starting soon and that means significantly less free time and less updates, but I hope you will all understand and won't abandon my story! Thanks, as always, for the reviews and I'll try to update this story one more time before school starts!**


	22. Chapter 23

There was absolutely no escaping Sam the next day. "Arden!" he yelled.

I acted like I hadn't heard him.

"ARDEN!"

There was no ignoring it. "Oh, hi Sam."

"You look a lot better, today." There was a definite perceptible difference in my appearance and powers since I got a few gulps of blood last night. " So, what did he say?"

" He said no." Technically I said no, but it wasn't only because I didn't like Sam.

"What? _Why?"_ he whined.

"You're too young, and he doesn't know whether you're mature enough to be here. Plus, your parents would send a huge man hunt out for you and what would happen to the Cirque if they discovered we were hiding you here with us?"

"You're not that much older than me!"

"I'm two years older than you, and I'm a girl so that makes a difference too."

"What's being a girl have to do with it?"

"Girls are more mature than boys. Besides, I don't have any parents, and I didn't have a home before the Cirque. Maybe later, when you're older."

"I don't want to join later! I want to join now! Did you tell Mr. Tall everything?"

"Yes. Sam, you promised that you would accept any answer that Mr. Tall gave you."

"I don't believe you even asked Mr. Tall. I want to see him myself."

"Don't let me stop you. There's his van right over there." When Sam saw my willingness to let him see Mr. Tall, his rage deflated. Apparently he was expecting me to get defensive about it, which would mean I was lying. "It's not all that fun anyway," I sighed.

"I don't care. It would be fun to me. Hey, maybe I'll stow away!"

"No!"

"I will if I want," he said in the most childish and annoying voice I have ever heard. "You can't stop me!" This brat was far too insufferable.

"Can't I? I could have Madam Octa bite you and that would be the end of all our problems." Oh, how I would relish that act of murder.

"You wouldn't." His eyes grew wide with fear.

"Yes I would, and I could do so much worse things, too. Like, for instance, break both your legs in half. I've done that before, you know. And that was just an accident. I wonder how much damage I could do when I was actually trying." All my threats were perfectly executed, without flinching. Sam could see my obvious truthfulness, and he was afraid.

"That's not true. People would avoid you."

"Most people do. Except for the strong people, like Evra. Other people could fight me with any weapon on the planet and they would still lose."

"You're lying," he breathed.

"Nope." I walked over to him and picked him up with one hand. "No ordinary girl could do this."

It wasn't long after that that Sam ran away.

* * *

I was walking around, glad that I was at least rid of Sam. (Though I really wished I could have made him go away in a less scary fashion.) I passed one of the farmer's fields when I noticed a little person attacking a sheep.

Oh, god, what now? I pried it off the sheep, but the damage was done and the poor thing was in so much pain that I snapped her neck.

"What's wrong with you?" It was R.V.

"What do you mean?" I was tired and I really wanted to go to bed.

"You just killed that poor sheep!"

"She was in pain when I got here. Someone attacked her and I decided to kill her instead of let her live in agony." I didn't enjoy killing the sheep, but it was something that had to be done.

"I saw that it was someone from the Cirque who attacked her."

"They don't know any better."

"Really?" he asked sarcastically.

"Why won't you just leave the Cirque alone? Please?" I begged.

"No. The Cirque is just a bunch of murderers. And the police are going to be here."

"The police?" Oh, crap. (The real word I thought in my mind had to be censored. I'll give you a hint, it starts with F.)

"Police and health inspectors will be coming down on you like a ton of bricks."

"Please, no."

He stared at me with what might have been pity. "I could let you run away, now. I would never tell the police. After all, you did try to save that sheep."

"I can't live in the world on my own. I need the Cirque."

"You don't need these people."

"Yes I do. I have health problems that only they can take care of."

"What's wrong with you?"

"Blood problems that are none of your business."

"I saw the way they treat that poor hairy man."

"We don't have to be enemies. Come see Mr. Tall and he'll explain things -"

"Save it!" He ran away into the night.

Oh, shit.

I told Mr. Tall all about my conversation with R.V. and he didn't seem to blame me at all. He was just worried, more about the Health Inspectors than the police. "I'm too tired to be in the show," I said.

"That's fine, I'll just have to change things up a little."

* * *

I was hanging out with Evra when he asked me a question. "Why won't you drink human blood? Is it that different from drinking animal blood?"

"Evra, I'm going to tell you something that I've never told anyone else in the world." I paused. "Sometimes, I lost complete control of my body. I turn into sort of a zombie and my body just does whatever it wants. That's why I stole Mr. Crepsley's spider. I hate spiders, but for some reason, that day, my body wanted to steal her. It's the same way when I try to drink blood. I really do try, but my body won't let me."

"Are you sure you aren't just going crazy?"

"Nope. Not at all."

"Is that normal for a vampire?"

"Certainly not."

"Then you need to tell Mr. Crepsley!"

"I will tomorrow. See ya, I guess."

"Yeah."

I was feeling restless, so I decided to take a walk around while the show was going on. I heard a sharp snapping sound in the dark, and knew immediately that I should investigate. I would have ignored it if it weren't for the present circumstances with Sam and R.V., but right now I was on high alert.

It was coming from the Wolf man's cage. Oh, crap.

Three guesses who it was, in front of the Wolf Man's cage, with the intention of freeing him. Well, it certainly wasn't Sam.

"R.V., you have to stop this, now!"

"I'm freeing this poor abused creature."

"You're insane! He's insane! He's in that cage for his own protection and for the protection of others!"

"So you say!"

We spent a couple more minutes arguing until I heard a sick crunching noise that I had only ever heard once before in my life: When I had broken through the bones on that one kid's legs. The Wolf man had bitten off R.V.'s hands just below the elbows.

"You stole my hands you evil little monster! My hands! My hands!" He ran into the night screaming about his hands.

I felt a tear flow down my cheek as I realized that another human being could hate me this much. But, there was nothing I could do, and I had to tell Mr. Tall that the Wolf Man had escaped and run after someone so he could kill them.

As I exited the Wolf Man's tent, I saw a bag on the ground. On the bag, in the writing of a child, was written 'This bag is the property of Sam Grest. Hands off!"

The Wolf Man was after Sam! Oh, shit.

* * *

I was in the familiar trance of Zombie Mode. Though, while it was familiar, that didn't make it any more enjoyable as I chased after the Wolf Man, and Sam, the person whom I didn't particularly care for. But, if I'm to be quite honest, I probably would have gone after him anyway, just because it was the right thing to do.

I was snooping around, trying to smell Sam somehow, despite the fact that unlike R.V., he didn't stink. Then, I saw a metal bar coming towards me at high speed and I ducked with plenty of time to knock my opponent to the ground. Which, as it turns out, was Sam.

"Sam, you idiot, it's me!"

"Arden?"

"No, it's Michael Jackson, here to molest you. Though, I think I'd prefer that to getting eaten by the Wolf Man. I followed you here and I'm here to rescue you, for some unknowable reason."

"Where's the Wolf Man?"

"I don't know, but we really need to get out of here. He's one of the strong people that would be hard for me to kill."

"Maybe he found something else to eat," Sam said hopefully.

"Fat chance. Come on!" I grabbed his wrist and began to run in the direction of the Cirque, but I was too fast for him and he couldn't keep up. I groaned and had him wrap his arms around my neck as I carried him - piggy back style- towards the Cirque.

I was knocked off my feet by none other than the Wolf Man.

Sam and I were separated, so I couldn't see what was going on, but I could hear Sam's haunting screams. My brain kept wanting to black out, but I fought desperately to stay conscious. I heard the awful voice again inside my head. For some reason, it sounded like…Mr. Tiny!

_Just black out, it would only be too easy._

_But I need to save Sam._

_The stupid boy got himself into this mess, and besides, you hate him._

_That doesn't mean I'm going to let him die! _

_Nobody would know._

_I would know! Now get out of my head!_

My mind was suddenly clear as I shook off the Zombie Mode.

Screaming, I rammed myself into the Wolf Man.

I had knocked him a good few feet away, and I would keep doing so. It was almost similar to fighting Adam. He was bigger, and undoubtedly stronger, but I was still holding my own against him with my well-aimed kicks.

**Mr. Crepsley's P.O.V.**

I only hoped I wasn't too late for Arden as I ran at the Wolf Man and attacked him with all my speed and strength. In my mind I was screaming: How dare you attack my assistant!

When the Wolf Man was unconscious I turned to Arden. She was bleeding all over, and I could see some horrible bruising forming on her wrist and arm. When she looked up at me, I could see the tears swimming in her big brown eyes.

"I came as soon as I could." It didn't seem to be a very good explanation, in my opinion. I began rambling on about what had happened at the Cirque when Arden let her tears flow and threw her arms around me.

"Thank you," she cried. She was hugging me. I had always thought she was lying, merely being courteous, when she said she didn't hate me. But now, it appeared that she had been telling the truth.

I examined her bruised arm. It was broken.

"Sam," she whispered. Then, she tentatively crawled over to the dying boy. He was still alive, and aware of his surroundings, but there would be no saving him. It was impossible.

"Can you save him," she asked.

"No, I cannot." I waited a few minutes. "Arden, there is something you must do. You must drink Sam's blood."

She stared at me for a moment before nodding and leaning down over the boy.

He turned to her and asked. "How did you do all those tricks? What are you, Arden."

"I'm a vampire, Sam," she whispered before leaning down and, as if some spell had been broken, draining him of his blood.

**Arden's P.O.V.**

I now sat in an old abandoned building that was far away from the place where Sam had died.

We had buried him, Mr. Crepsley and I, and I suppose you could say we were friends now.

What I remembered most that night was drinking the blood and finally being rid of the spell that had been over me. But, it would come back. That much I knew. It would come back, and when it did, I would fight it like hell.

**End Book Two**

**Author's Note: Okay, so next chapter will be the third book! Yay! Hope you will continue reading throughout this series, which will be a very long one.**

**School has started, though, so don't count on a speedy update. All the 'oh, shits' and 'oh, craps' were intentional by the way.**


	23. Chapter 24

Mr. Crepsley and I were walking around the building where the Cirque was currently set up. I still looked pretty much the same from the time when I left home, thanks to my vampire blood. I knew that I would probably get annoyed with it later, but for the time being, the fact that I didn't age didn't really bother me.

I filled my lungs with the cold December air, calmed by it. I heard a heavy breathing very close, and thought it was a human, nothing to be concerned with.

However, I was wrong.

I heard a deep voice "Well look who it is!" I felt knives at my throat, and panicked. I gave a girlish shriek, elbowed my attacker that was right behind me, resulting in a pained grunt. The sharp weapons left my throat, but I wasn't done incapacitating my attacker. My next moves against him was a solid kick in his balls, causing him to fall to his knees in agony; a punch in the face, making blood spurt everywhere from his nose; and finally, I judo flipped him over.

Mr. Crepsley looked delighted. "That was quite amusing. I would never imagine that Gavner Purl would be so easily defeated by a half vampire." 'Gavner Purl' looked surprised that Mr. Crepsley seemed to have known it was him all along. "Gavner, Gavner, Gavner, I could always hear you coming from half a mile away."

The stranger took a moment to recover and try to stop the blood coming from his nose. "Not true! You couldn't have heard." All I knew at this point was that I had heard this 'Gavner Purl' coming from quite a ways away. He and Mr. Crepsley sure seemed friendly, though. Suddenly, I remembered when we had visited Jimmy Ovo a year and a half ago. Gavner had been mentioned then…so they were friends.

"Why not? Nobody in the world breathes as heavily as you. I could pick you out blindfolded in a crowd of thousands."

"One night, Larten. One night I'll surprise you. We'll see how smart you are then."

"Upon that night I shall retire in disgrace." He cocked an eyebrow at me, to see that my muscles were still a little rigid. I relaxed them now, even though I had realized quite a while ago that Gavner was no real threat. "Shame on you, Gavner. You've frightened the girl." I glared at Mr. Crepsley for making me sound like a wimp.

Gavner stared a little resentfully at me. "She didn't act all that scared." He also muttered something along the lines of, "I can't believe that little girl kicked my ass." He slowly stood up.

He wasn't tall - though still a little taller than me - but wide and muscular. I would estimate his height around 5 ft. 8. He had a lot more scars than Mr. Crepsley, all over him, but he looked a lot more friendly than the man who blooded me. Maybe this man had more of a sense of humor. He was dressed a lot simpler than Mr. Crepsley, just jeans and a white T-shirt. And, he was a vampire.

"Arden, this is Gavner Purl." Mr. Crepsley was still chuckling a little at the thought of me fighting Gavner as he introduced us. "An old, trusted, rather clumsy friend. Gavner, this is Arden Peterson."

"Pleased to meet you," he said. "Ummm _you_ didn't hear me coming did you?"

"Sorry, but I did."

He began muttering again. "Most humans don't hear me."

"Congratulations," Mr. Crepsley said dryly. "If you are ever called upon to mass murder humans, you'll have no problems."

"I see time hasn't sweetened you, as cutting as ever. How long has it been? Fourteen years. Fifteen?"

"Seventeen in February."

"Seventeen! Longer than I thought. Seventeen years and as sour as ever." He winked at me. "Does he still complain like a grumpy old woman when he wakes up?"

"Yes. But, I do the same. I hate waking up," I admitted with a blush.

"Well, I could never get a positive word out of him until midnight. I had to share a coffin with him once for four whole months." He shivered. "Longest four months of my life."

I raised my eyebrow, suspicious. Gavner was around half a foot or more taller than me, so Mr. Crepsley was a foot taller than him. It would have been a tight fit.

"Had to. We were being hunted. We had to stick together. I wouldn't do it again, though. I'd rather face the sun and burn. Of course, I wouldn't mind sharing a coffin with a beautiful woman like you." He gave me a goofy grin.

My Crepsley smacked him. "Please don't talk to my _underage_ assistant like that. And you were not the only one with cause for complaint. Your snoring nearly drove me to face the sun myself." His lips twitched though, attempting to hide a smile.

I scrunched up my face. "Funny, that makes me think. Are there any certain rules for vampires to follow age wise? Vampires could be over a hundred years apart and still be similar in age."

"Not as such," Mr. Crepsley growled. "But I would like for Gavner to show propriety and respect for you age." Gavner looked at Mr. Crepsley funny, but didn't say anything, as if he were trying to solve a difficult puzzle.

"Why were you two being hunted anyway?" I asked.

"Never mind," Mr. Crepsley said quickly.

"It was sixty years ago, Larten -"

"The girl is not interested in the past." (Pffft. Hell yeah, I was. Blackmail material.) "You are on my soil, Gavner Purl. I would ask you to respect my wishes."

"Stuffy old bat."

They talked about the Cirque when a familiarly unfamiliar word popped up. "How goes it with the Generals?" Mr. Crepsley inquired. I think it was Hans that had mentioned the word when I had first joined the Cirque.

"Usual old routine."

"Gavner is a Vampire General."

"What exactly are they. For some reason, Mr. Crepsley seems to think that I'm not to be trusted with such classified information."

"We keep an eye on scoundrels like this," Gavner said, pointing to Mr. Crepsley. "We make sure they're not up to mischief."

"They monitor the behavior of the vampire clan. Make sure they don't do any evil activities," Mr. Crepsley elaborated. "They kill the vampires that have gone bad. And to crack down on foolish or weak vampires. I have been expecting this visit. Shall we retire to my tent, Gavner, to discuss the matter?"

"You've been expecting me?" Gavner looked startled, but not quite surprised.

"Word was bound to leak out sooner or later. I have made no attempt to hide the girl or suppress the truth. Note that please: I will use it during my trial, when I am called upon to defend myself." Mr. Crepsley was in trouble for blooding me. I felt the whisper of zombie mode in the back of my mind and I knew that my year and a half of rest was over. Soon, destiny would try to take me over again.

We had been walking this entire time, and we came upon a full length mirror that was mounted on the wall. I looked in it. "I'll be 18 before too long, and I'll still look 13 or 14."

"How old are you?" Gavner asked.

"Almost 15." He blushed. "I was 13 when I was blooded. Just about ready to leave the 7th grade."

Gavner's head appeared to be spinning. "Trial? Truth? The girl?" He stared at my hands, the scars on my fingertips, to confirm what he was already thinking. "She's a vampire."

"Of course. But surely you knew. I made several references to it, but it appears that you were not paying attention.

He stared at me intensely. "She's only half vampire."

"Naturally. It is not our custom to make full vampires of our assistants."

"Nor to make assistants of children!" Even if he had realized I was a vampire, he might not have been able to guess my age. (I look older than I am, despite my height.) I looked maybe 16, which according to Mr. Crepsley, is only a little uncommon for blooding. 16 would be young, but not considered too young. "What were you thinking? A _girl!_ When did this happen? Why haven't you informed anyone."

I had, sometimes when I was sleepless, wondered whether Mr. Crepsley had had any much of a choice in blooding me. Or had he had Mr. Tiny inside his head, like me. Like I was unable to control myself when I was stealing his spider. I felt bad for him, having to cover for something he had not control over.

"It has been nearly a year and a half since I blooded Arden. Why I did it is a long story. As for why I have not yet told anyone, that is simpler to answer: you are the first of our kind we have encountered. I would have taken her to the next Council if I had not run into a General Beforehand. Now that will not be necessary." Council? Now I wished, more than ever, that Mr. Crepsley didn't keep quite so many things from me.

"It certainly will be!" Gavner snorted.

"Why? You can judge my actions and pass verdict." You know when adults are talking, and you want to give you opinion, but you can't because you'll either sound stupid, or because you know that it's not your place to talk? Well, that's how I felt, and I hated it.

"_Me?_ Judge _you? _No thanks. I'll leave you to the council. the last think I need is to get involved in something like this."

I kept silent, because I knew that it really wasn't my place, at this point, to talk. Mr. Crepsley looked confused. "If you are not here about Arden, why have you come? I thought I made it clear when last we met that I wanted no more to do with the Generals."

"You made it crystal clear. Maybe I'm just here to discuss old times."

Mr. Crepsley smiled, almost unpleasantly. "After seventeen years of leaving me to my own devices? I think not, Gavner."

Gavner coughed and looked pointedly at me. "There is trouble brewing. Nothing to do with the Generals but… This is personal. I've come because I feel there's something you should know."

"Go on," Mr. Crepsley said.

He cleared his throat. "Well, I have no objections to speaking in front of Arden, but you seemed so anxious to steer him clear of certain areas when we were discussing our past a while ago. What I have to tell you may not be for her ears."

I wanted Mr. Crepsley to say 'Of course not, Gavner. Do not be foolish. I trust Arden.' But his answer wasn't any different from what I expected.

"Arden. Gavner and I shall continue our discussion in my quarters, alone. Please find Mr. Tall and tell him I shall be unable to perform tonight." I paused and was about to walk away, intent on listening in later.

That is, until Mr. Crepsley said. "And Arden, I know you are curious by nature, but I warn you: do not attempt to eavesdrop. I shall take a dim view of you if you do."

"What, do you think I'm going to tweet all your personal information all over the world on my nonexistent twitter account." I realized now that Mr. Crepsley might be embarrassed by whatever information Gavner had. I would respect his privacy for now, but I would make a nuisance of myself later trying to annoy the details out of him in the very near future.

"Arden!" he snapped. "No eavesdropping! And none of that 'twither' nonsense, either!" I knew for a fact that he had not a clue about twitter.

"You'll have to turn of the microphones I've hidden in your room then," I said.

"You had better be joking, Arden."

"Pfft," I snorted.

"Don't worry," said Gavner cheerily. "I'll tell you all about it later!" Mr. Crepsley gave him a seriously pissed look. "Only joking!"

I trudged away. I really didn't care what Mr. Crepsley did in his past, meaning that I wouldn't have a different opinion about him. Why didn't he trust me.


	24. Chapter 25

After the show, when I had happily forgone my act with Madam Octa, I asked Evra about what he knew about vampires, especially the council. He didn't know much, but it was enough to go off of.

I had been keeping a close watch on Mr. Crepsley's van and eventually, a few hours before dawn, the vampire Gavner walked out. He rubbed the scars on his face, thinking, and asked me to take a walk with him. (I knew he was thinking because Mr. Crepsley and I both rubbed our scars when we were thinking. Though, I also rubbed my scars when I feeling uncomfortable.)

And I was rubbing my scars now as I awkwardly walked with Gavner. "Do you enjoy being a half-vampire, Arden?"

"I miss my family and friends a lot, but I love the lifestyle. I get to travel all over the world, learning new languages and cultures. And Mr. Crepsley isn't so bad once you get to know him a little."

He seemed surprised that I didn't resent the vampire who blooded me. "You know that you will age only a fifth of the human rate? You've resigned you7rself to a long childhood? It doesn't bother you?"

"Doesn't every woman want to be young?" I joked. "I am a little irked at the slow rate I will be aging, but I accepted it a long time ago. However, I don't think it will be so bad, I wasn't never particularly eager to begin adulthood. Less so than my peers, I would bet. Besides, I can't undo what's been done."

Gavner sighed. "That's the problem with blooding a person: there's no way to take the vampire blood back . It's why we don't blood children: we only want people who know what they're getting into, who wish to abandon their humanity. Larten shouldn't have blooded you. It was a mistake."

"I _did_ know what I was getting into, and in the end, it was me who made the decision to become a vampire, though my hand was a little forced. But is this why he was talking about being judged?"

He nodded, but didn't look pleased by that fact. "He'll have to account for his error. He'll have to convince the Generals and Princes that what he did won't harm them. If he can't…"

"Will he be killed?"

Now was the first time throughout our conversation he smiled. "I doubt it. Larten is widely respected. His wrists will be slapped, but I don't think anybody will look for his head."

"Why would they consider me a threat? And why didn't you judge him?"

He ignored my first question. "All Generals have the right to pass judgment on non-ranked vampires, but Larten's an old friend. It's best for the judge to be unbiased. Even if he's committed a real crime, I would have found it hard to punish him. Besides, Larten's no ordinary vampire: he used to be a General."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" I could totally imagine him as some strict rule follower that cracked down on everyone harshly.

He chuckled. "An important one, too. He was on the verge of being voted a Vampire Prince when he stepped down." I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "He resigned. He was a couple years shy of being ordained when one night he declared he was sick of the business and wanted nothing more to do with the Generals."

"That sounds random. And if I know one thing about Mr. Crepsley, it's that he's not random."

"Nobody knew what happened. Larten never gave much away. Maybe he just got tired of the fighting and killing."

"Now the not giving much away sounds like Mr. Crepsley. He tells me nothing!"

Gavner grinned in an understanding way. "That's Larten, kid, get used to it!"

He began stretching, possibly getting ready to flit. "Leaving so soon?" I asked.

He talked about Generals being busy when something he said made my ears perk up. "Anyway, I think Larten will be on the move soon himself."

"And just where would he be going?" I asked casually.

"Sorry. He'd scalp me alive if I told. I've already said more than I should you8 won't tell him I told you about his being a General, will you?" I shook my head honestly. "Thanks." He faced me with a serious look on his face. "Larten's a pain the butt sometimes. He plays his cards to close to his chest - " I would never have guessed that! " - and getting information out of him can be like prying teeth from a shark. But he's a good vampire, one of the best. You couldn't hope for a better teacher. Trust him, Arden, and you won't go wrong."

"I know that I can trust him," I told Gavner assuredly, and I meant it.

"This can be a dangerous world for vampires," he said softly. "More dangerous than you know. Stick with Larten and you'll be in a better position to survive than many of our kind. You don't live as long as he has without learning more than your fair share of tricks."

"I know more about the dangers of the world than you might guess." Like Desmond Tiny trying to take over my mind. That could be considered dangerous. I paused and thought for a second. "Wait, how old is Mr. Crepsley anyway?"

"180, or 200, maybe."

"I'll be sure to call him old next time I see him. How old are you?"

"I'm a whippersnapper. Just past the hundred year mark."

"Practically a child," I agreed with a grin.

"I have to be going. So long Arden Peterson."

"So long Gavner Purl."

I jogged in the cool nearly-morning air to Mr. Crepsley's van. I walked in and said, "Hey."He turned his head slowly towards me to acknowledge my greeting. "He said you might be leaving soon."

Mr. Crepsley looked both suspicious and slightly panicked. "What else did he say?"

"Nothing." I wasn't half bad at lying to him.

He nodded sluggishly. "Gavner brought unpleasant news. I will have to leave the Cirque for a while." I raised my eyebrows in a silent question. "To a city."

"And just what do you intend to do with me during this excursion?"

"That is what I have been contemplating. I would prefer not to take you with me, but I think I must. I may have need of you."

"Am I that much of an annoyance?"

"No, but…" he trailed off and didn't tell me anymore.

"Could I bring Evra?"

"I suppose you could."

"I'll go ask him and we'll pack then. We'll try not to be too much of an nuisance."

"I'll go clear the 'excursion' as you called it, with Hibernius. Be back before dawn so I can brief you - I want to make sure we are prepared to travel as soon as night falls."

**Author's Note: I was listening to Kanon Wakeshima when I was writing this chapter and I found it to set an excellent mood that matches the story pretty well. Hope you all like this and I'm going to try to change the story a little because Arden is here and not Darren. And she's going to be in for a huge surprise when she's in the city! **


	25. Chapter 26

I was really glad that Evra had come with me, because Mr. Crepsley had proven to be the worst company ever. He always left shortly after he woke up, so that meant that there was plenty of time to kill.

For Evra and I, that included: introducing him to fast food, playing in the snow, and just walking around exploring. We were pretty care free, though we always racked up hefty bills wherever we choose to eat; I won't deny that it was me doing most of the eating.

The only thing that was really annoying was having to dress Evra up. We had to cover him practically head to toe because of his scales. "People will probably think that we're a couple of escaped crazies," he muttered. While I didn't have to wear his getup, which included a fake beard, my clothes were still quite ratty even though I had bought them only a couple months ago from a thrift store.

"Well, I've heard the staff whispering about Mr. Crepsley being a mad scientist, me being his weird assistant, and you being our experiment." We then laughed at the notion, especially considering the fact that the truth was actually weirder. "But, oh well! Mr. Crepsley tips well so they leave us alone. Like that one guy who walks naked through the halls! I was mentally scarred for life but they won't make him leave."

"Normal humans are even weirder than us!"

"So it would seem, Evra, so it would seem. However, please note that most humans don't enjoy walking around public places naked. I'm not sure if it's even legal here…."

* * *

One day, Evra and I were walking around, minding our own business, when I saw him. The boy I saw when I spaced out was here in the city!

I began running towards him, undoubtedly tripped other people and leaving Evra in the dust in the process. "Hey! Kid!" We looked pretty close to the same age now, even though I was almost 15 and he was about 13. He looked at me in surprise, not recognizing me. "What's your name?" I demanded.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Did you ever go to the Cirque du Freak? Your friend ever wanted to talk to Larten Crepsley?"

His eyes grew wide. "Who are you? How do you know about that?"

"You need to come with me." He looked hesitant, but I grabbed his arm and dragged him along with me in the general direction of Evra.

"Arden! Who the hell is that? Why are dragging that kid?"

"I'll explain later. For now we need to get back to the hotel room."

When we got there, I plopped the kid into a chair. "Your name is Darren. You went to the Cirque du Freak with your friend. Your friend went to Larten Crepsley to talk to him, correct?"

"Yes. How do you know this?"

"I'm you….. I think."

"You're…me?"

"I think. I've had dreams of you."

"Wait a second!" The kid looked extremely scared. "That guy is the snake boy from the Cirque du Freak."

"Yes. This is Evra. Darren, for some reason, you escaped the destiny you were supposed to have and I ended up getting stuck with it. Of course, this is all speculatory. But I'm pretty sure I'm right. You were supposed to become the assistant of Larten Crepsley, and who knows what else you were supposed to do, but now I'm going to do it and have no choice. Evra, this is why I go into zombie mode!"

"What's zombie mode?" Darren asked.

"I lost control of my body and did things you were supposed to do. I stole Mr. Crepsley's spider and became his vampire assistant in order to save my friend Seth."

"V-vampires? Th-they don't exist!"

I moved faster than humanly possible up to Darren, and grabbed a marble from his pocket. I ground it to dust in my hand. "Trust me, I'm a vampire. And because of your decisions, I no longer have a choice in almost everything I do!" I needed to calm down, because otherwise I'd take out all my anger on this kid.

I looked at the time. "It's three. Mr. Crepsley will be waking up soon. That is, if my ruckus hasn't woken him up already. Darren, we need to talk more. Where can I reach you?"

"I, uh, have a cell phone." He gave me the number and I saw him out of the hotel. When I came back I collapsed in the same chair Darren had been sitting in, exhausted.

"You knew that guy, Arden? You had dreams about him?"

"It's all speculatory, like I said. Besides, by all normal standards, I'm crazy. Taking my dreams seriously. People have been telling me to fight my destiny or something of that sort. I've dreamt of Mr. Tiny, Mr. Tall, and all sorts of dead people. The dreams stopped until a little while ago, when Gavner came and visited."

"There is something wrong, Arden. I think you should talk to someone. Like Mr. Crepsley."

"I can handle it."

"Arden," he warned.

"Fine. But not right now. He's too distracted." Evra raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but let the subject rest for the time being.

* * *

After our first meeting. I met Darren another couple of times. We were on what I guess you could call decent terms. And he accompanied me and Evra on some of our excursions into the city. But, we wouldn't know Darren for long because he and his family were leaving after christmas.

I decided to take a nice walk in the cool air. Then, suddenly, someone shouted, "Hey you!"

**Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter. But, this is the best place to stop. Anyway, as always, review!**


	26. Chapter 27

My first instinct was to run, but I turned around to see who it was. To my surprise - and embarrassment! - it turned out to just be two teenagers. A girl about Darren's age and a boy about mine. "Umm, hi." I said cautiously. "Were you two talking to me?"

"Yeah." The girl smiled warmly at me. "You're the girl who hangs out with the guy in the beard." I nodded. "And that other kid." She must have been talking about Darren. I nodded again. "Well you don't have to be so stiff, silly! Hi, I'm Debbie!" She shook my hand in a vigorous fashion, making me hope I didn't accidentally break her wrist. "And this is my cousin Malcolm." Both of them were of African descent, and very good looking, I might add. "I've noticed you three walking around."

"You've been watching us?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I had nothing better to do because I was sick. So, mind introducing yourself?"

"Sorry, I've been rude. My name is Arden."

"So, Arden are you going in?" Malcolm asked, indicating towards the store. I nodded and we all walked in together. "Who are you shopping for?" he asked.

"My brother: the kid with the beard."

"Is the other boy your brother, too?"

I certainly wasn't going to tell Debbie the truth about my relationship with Darren. 'Well, you see Debbie, Darren used to be a vampire, but somehow, he managed to prevent that from happening. But he was also an important vampire who did important stuff, so the universe replaced him with me. I'm sort of his reincarnation.'

Yeah, that would go over real well…as a joke, maybe. So I went with something else. "No, he's just… a really close friend."

"How close?" joked Malcolm, a perverted look on his face. "Friends with benefits?"

"Nope. The kid's two years younger than me, so I'm not that interested."

"Back to presents," Debbie said quickly.

I enjoyed hanging out with the Hemlocks - Debbie and Malcolm's last name. Malcolm was a year older than me, and Debbie was the same age as Darren.

I decided to buy a book for Evra entitled 'How to Exorcise the Undead'. He would find it interesting and get a kick out of it as well. When we were checking out, the cashier asked if Debbie and Malcolm were brother and sister. I couldn't resist putting a little quip in. "Yeah. In fact, we're all triplets." We three were laughing nonstop for two blocks. Mostly at the look that was on the lady's face. Priceless. With my skin as pale as ice, there would be no mistaking me for a sibling of this duo.

Malcolm's parents had gone to Hawaii for Christmas, leaving him in the care of his aunt and uncle. Not that he or Debbie cared, though. They were both only children so they enjoyed having someone their age to socialize with.

I said that Evra and I didn't know why our dad had took us here, but that that wasn't uncommon behavior for him. (I was trying to stick as close to the truth as I could, which was rather difficult.) I also said that it had only been a coincidence that we had met Darren, our _very_ good friend, here.

Debbie had lost her gloves, so we were looking in that section of the store when Malcolm started snooping a little. "Speaking of gloves, Arden, why aren't you wearing a coat? It's freezing out."

"My sweater is plenty warm." My face became flushed in slight annoyance. I really _was_ warm enough. My vampire blood prevented me from getting cold in weather that was only slightly below freezing. Not that it would have bothered me much as a human, either. I had lived in a colder climate, so I was pretty used to snow, ice, and temperatures below zero.

"It doesn't look that warm." Malcolm why do you feel the need to press the matter further?

"I'm from a city in northern America. It gets really cold there, so this weather is mere child's play in comparison." Again, telling most of the truth, but leaving out little details like, say, not being human, for instance. Though, apart from being a little nosier than I would have liked, he was very attractive and I liked him a lot. And whenever I was around him, there was a whisper of zombie mode throughout my body, deep down into my bones.

I was telling them about the hotel we were staying at, and of course I mentioned the naked guy, when Debbie said that they should come over sometime. I grimaced. "There's not a lot to do there. That's why Evra and I do a lot of wandering. If you want to go swimming, of course you're welcome to." The only thing you're not welcome to do is come into the room during the day when my 'father' is sleeping, I said mentally.

I spent the entire afternoon with the Hemlocks and by the time they were ready to go home, the sun was beginning to set. "Do you want to come over?" Debbie asked.

"Uhh. It's getting late. I'll be expected back soon."

"We won't keep you too long." Malcolm looked like he wanted me to come to their house pretty badly and in all honesty, I really wanted to go over to their house too. Not just because I found Malcolm good looking, but also because it had been a while since I had just hung out with normal humans.

"Still, I better get going. My dad hates it when I'm out after dark. He starts to think that I'm doing things that I'm not supposed to do."

"Then we should all go to a movie together. Darren and Evra, too. How about tomorrow," Malcolm said quickly.

When he said it like that, I just melted. "Okay. How about five."

"Sure." He was grinning really wide until Debbie elbowed him in the ribs. "What the heck!"

"Ask her properly, you idiot!"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, it's so obvious you like her. Ask her on a date specifically! I'm sorry Arden, but boys, my cousin especially, can be really dense."

I laughed. "It's fine. I knew what he meant. I'll see you two tomorrow at five right?" They nodded. I gave them my room number for the hotel, and we decided that we were going to see the movie Gulliver's Travels.

Then, I began walking towards my hotel at a brisk pace. I guess my personality didn't bite as much as I thought it did.

**Author's Note: Really short chapter, I know. And it's not very nice of my to do that after you've all waited so long and probably forgotten my fanfiction altogether. But, to those who are still reading it, I apologize. **


	27. Chapter 28

Needless to say, I was not in a displeased mood when I returned to the hotel room. My first real boyfriend. (I was not counting Adam.) I skipped in, and breezed over to Evra. "Guess what?"

"Well, let's see. You've been diagnosed with a deadly disease."

"Nope."

"Darn. Well, do you expect me to guess on my own?"

"I have a date tomorrow night." Evra's face fell a little. Did he feel left out? "And, he has a female cousin, if you want to know." Evra still seemed a little down, but before too long, he seemed to be back to his old self and was mocking me.

"I still don't see how you could get a date with that old outfit. And if you are going on one, I would suggest wearing something a little neater." I stared down at my scruffy clothes. The sweater was overly large and baggy, not to mention a little out of date. The green and black stripes going horizontally down it made it look like something out of the nineties. The lime green skinny jeans weren't really my style either, but they were the only pants that would fit my scrawny frame without the aid of a belt. Plus, both clothing articles were from a thrift store because the Cirque didn't have the time, nor did it want to spend the money, on an expensive 'shopping spree' for me. I was a little short on cash, though, at the moment. Too short to be spending money on a more modern outfit. Besides, me and fashion were not all that familiar with each other.

"Are you going to come, Evra? I mean, even if Debbie isn't really your type, you should still enjoy yourself. Although, the movie looks like it's going to be a random mockery of the book Gulliver's Travels." He stared down at his feet in a shy manner. "Oh, don't be so shy. I'm the one that should be shy, because I shouldn't even be dating. I'm a vampire and I'm not supposed to be involved with humans."

"Don't be so gloomy. You're starting to sound like Mr. Crepsley. It's not like they're going to notice you're a vampire."

"Any advice?"

"I don't know, treat him like a friend, I suppose. And then kiss him!" He grinned wickedly. "Although, I think the best advice I can give you is to avoid mentioning this to Mr. Crepsley."

"He would have a spaz attack and move us to another hotel, I know."

The next morning, with the little money I had left, I went and bought a long-sleeved shirt that fit me much better than the sweater. It wasn't anything fancy, but I looked better in it. I didn't panic throughout the day, though Evra tried desperately to make me by reading off how many hours to go. His attitude changed later when the actual time drew even closer. "How are you going to explain…?" he gestured towards his skin. "They might get scared of me, lots of people do, so maybe I - "

"You're staying right here, Evra. If they don't like you, then they can take a hike right off a cliff. Besides, they're nice, so I doubt that they would be mean to you, so don't worry about it." There was a knock at the door and my heart gave a little jump. I sprinted to the door, only to see the anticlimactic person standing there. Darren. How disappointing.

"Darren! What are you doing here? Leave! Now!"

"But -" And, just as he was about to answer me, Debbie and Malcolm arrived. Which was unfortunate considering I didn't really want Darren to associate with too many people I knew. I didn't hate the kid, at least, not as much as Sam, but he could be a real pain in the ass, and he was more often than not an idiot. Making him not the best of company to keep. However, it was too late now, so no complaining.

"Oh! This is your friend!" exclaimed Debbie. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Debbie and this is Malcolm."

"I'm Darren." He grinned stupidly. How like a boy.

"That has a really nice ring to it. Darren and Debbie."

I coughed to break up their flirting. "This is Evra, my brother." I stared pointedly at Darren, hoping he got the message to keep his trap shut.

"Is that a costume?" she asked. She and Malcolm asked Evra a lot of questions and touched his scales, and were, quite honestly, in awe of him. I smiled. Yep, we wouldn't be having any problems here.

"Well, let's get moving, shall we. The movie starts in thirty minutes, and I want to get a good seat. Evra? Are you coming?" He looked at Debbie and Darren hitting it off, and he looked at Malcolm who was staring at me. Needless to say, Evra shook his head. He would have felt like a fifth wheel no matter how I tried to include him. "That's fine." I smiled and walked over to give him a hug. "You and I will watch a movie some other time. You have to experience a movie theater while we're here." I whispered so that the others wouldn't hear and Evra wouldn't be embarrassed.

Darren ended up walking with us to the theater and spending a lot of time talking with Debbie. Talking about his mom, dad, and little sister. When Malcolm heard what they were talking about, he stumbled to begin asking me personal questions. I had to make up a lot of stuff, though, which made me feel a little bad. But, not bad enough to tell the truth.

"What about your family, Arden?"

"Mom and dad are divorced, so I spend half the year with each. Thankfully, they live in the same city and I still go to the same school year round. We're only here on vacation. Evra and I also have a little sister, but she goes to this fancy boarding school for little geniuses and doesn't come during the winter months." I tried to include my darling little sister, Zula.

"I'm surprised you don't go, too. You seem really smart." I tried to cover up the fact that I was at about the level of a Junior in high school. As it turned out, schooling yourself wasn't very hard if you put in the effort and had the patience to do it. I was actually ahead of the people who had once been my classmates.

I tried abruptly changing the subject so I wouldn't have to keep lying. "And what about your family? It must be a lot more interesting than mine is."

"My dad had to go on an extended business trip and had to leave me here."

"I know that I'm asking for trouble by asking this question, but what about your mom?"

"Never met her. Apparently, right after I was born, she told my dad to take me and she left."

"I knew I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine really. My parents were never really close to begin with. My mom got pregnant after they had only been dating a couple weeks."

"Well, thank you for not chewing me out for asking such a touchy question."

"Anytime."

The night went smoothly after that. The movie wasn't very good, and all the food was ridiculously expensive, but I had a good time anyway. We all walked to Debbie's house afterwards and I met her parents. It was all nice, but I looked at the time and knew that I should be getting back to Evra before too long. But, right as I was about to say that I had to leave, Debbie surprised me with a question. "Arden, do you and your family want to come over Christmas Eve? Darren's coming." She looked really excited.

"I'd have to ask. I don't know about dad. He gets kind of grumpy around the Christmas season." Make that grumpy year-round.

"I still have to ask my parents, too. But the offer's there."

I smiled as warmly as I could manage at here. "That would be nice. And I can guarantee that if my dad says yes that I will be coming for sure, and probably Evra, too."

"He looked so left out, tonight." She looked so worried about my friend's well being, that it honestly touched me. I didn't think that anyone but myself had noticed the dejected look in Evra's eyes as we walked away.

"He's shy."

I decided to stay a little longer and when the duo asked me what I was going to get my dad for Christmas. I said that if I had the money, I would get him a tanning bed.(Of course, I didn't have the money.) Darren laughed a little and I thought it was hilarious. The other two looked at me funny. Oh, well, they had no way of knowing just how good a joke that they were missing.

When it was time to depart, I was saying goodbye when Malcolm kissed me out of nowhere. It was nice. I remembered Adam, my abusive boyfriend from another life, and compared the two kisses. Adam's were harsh and forceful. Malcolm's were sweet and tentative, like he was trying not to mess things up. It was cute. After his daring move, I gave him a little peck of my own. "There, now we're even." I waved and took off at a brisk pace towards the hotel. It wasn't because I wanted to get away, it was just because I was in such a good mood. My face was flushed with the pleasure at having accomplished a halfway successful relationship with a human.

When I entered the hotel room…

"So, Evra, what movie do you want to see tomorrow." He ignored me and pointed at the TV screen. Evra didn't ignore me. Not even when he was angry with me, so my head whipped in the direction of the TV and saw the news report. Dead bodies. Drained of their blood. Who could do this but a vampire? I didn't know what to say, and considering what a rare occasion that way, it was unnerving. I didn't _think_ Mr. Crepsley had done this, but he had been acting really weird lately, there was no denying that. And I knew that mine would be a biased point of view. Mr. Crepsley was one of the closest people to me and I respected him. Not only that, I cared for the man and his quirky ways. He may not always trust me, but I, to a large extent, trusted _him._

"It might not have been him." Evra was trying to make me feel better. It wasn't doing much for me.

"What are the odds that another vampire would be responsible?" Tears threatened in my eyes. "I don't want it to be him, Evra."

"I know."

"But if it is him, then how do we know? And we're the only ones who could do anything if it was him."

"Arden, what if -"

"I don't need any implausible excuses right now, Evra. He has not alibi except for his character, and I know this. What we need to do right now is find a way to figure out whether his is responsible or not for those people's deaths."

"We could follow him."

I thought it over for a moment. Tailing him wouldn't be easy, but it seemed like it would probably be our best option at this point. "Okay," I sighed. I felt so defeated. I looked up to that man, and he might be a murderer. My chest hurt.

"Arden." Evra had a very serious tone to his voice. At least, more serious than it had been throughout this entire conversation. "Do you think he did it?"

"I can't base my decision off -"

"_Arden. Do you think he did it?"_

"No. I trust him."


	28. Chapter 29

Evra and I had both agreed that it would be best to try and tail Mr. Crepsley, because neither of us wanted him to be guilty, me least of all. I had become attached to the old vampire, over the year-and-a-half I had spent with him and I trusted him implicitly. It was great exercise for me, following him around, but he didn't do anything but wander the city when I was watching. Which, in this case, was unfortunate, because at this time, no new bodies had been found. If I hadn't seen him doing anything, and there had been a new batch of corpses found, then I would know Mr. Crepsley wasn't responsible. And following that old guy was not easy, even for me. Who I felt most bad for was Evra. He had trouble keeping up. Plus, unlike me, he didn't have vampire blood too keep him warm and he was always freezing.

Evra, Darren and I still managed to spend some time with Debbie and Malcolm, despite the situation with Mr. Crepsley. Not that any of the normal humans knew anything. From what I had gathered about Darren's personality, he would go charging after Mr. Crepsley with a cross and holy water, thinking he stood a chance. (I kept Darren blissfully ignorant about vampires and their powers. All he knew was that I was a vampire that didn't hurt people.) I had thought they were all unsuspecting until one afternoon when Evra and I were leaving early again.

"You guys keep leaving early. Why?" Debbie put on a slightly pouty face. "You never used to."

Thankfully, I had long ago anticipated this question and had a viable answer. "It's just those weird murders. You know, the people who were drained of their blood. Well, our dad is really worried, so he doesn't like us being out after dark." Hah! Evra and I were the safest of anyone here.

"Oh. I guess I understand why he'd be worried."

"Yeah," I nodded. "He is the most over protective parent ever." Total bullshit. Mr. Crepsley could sometimes be protective, but it wasn't very often, and right now he was completely ignoring me.

Later that night, as I was following Mr. Crepsley, he was going quite a bit slower than usual, so it was quite a bit easier to keep up with him. After about ten minutes, an overweight gentleman, who I had noticed in the bunch of humans for a while now, bent over to tie his shoe and Mr. Crepsley stopped completely. Nobody else in the area had stopped, so this had to be it.

Despite this evidence towards Mr. Crepsley being a crazy serial killer, I still didn't want to believe that he was capable. However, I still called Evra. "Evra, I think he's following someone." I could hear Evra breathing on the other end, but not saying anything. "I'm still going to keep tailing Mr. Crepsley, but I'm not going to take any action until absolutely necessary. For all I know, he's just getting a little bit of blood from the man."

"Okay, Arden. Just make sure you're not too late if things get out of hand."

"Will do." I gave him the directions and Evra arrived a few minutes later, having been trailing behind me and Mr. Crepsley. Mr. Crepsley was just sitting there, so I saw no cause for alarm at the current moment. We sat there for hours and poor Evra was freezing. "Here, take my sweater as an extra layer. And no 'buts' either. You need it more than I do, because I'm a vampire. I could stand out here for hours without that heavy sweater and be fine."

After a while the man stepped out of the slaughter house and Evra was about to follow with me, until I stopped him. "Evra, why don't you go home for the night? I'll be fine for a couple more hours."

"B-b-but A-Arden -"

"Evra, you can barely talk. Go to the hotel, and I'll be back before too long."

I sped after Mr. Crepsley, who followed the overweight man around for a little while. At about five in the morning, I accidentally walked past him in an alley as he was looking up from his meal. Needless to say, he saw me. So, I took the offensive. "There you are, Mr. Crepsley, I've been looking all over for you!"

"What do you mean?" He was extremely suspicious, and who could blame him?

"I've been needing blood for a while, and I thought maybe I could ask you to take me out hunting."

He looked down at the woman he had just drank from, and not drained of blood, I might add. "I apologize. I suppose I have been neglecting your needs. However, I have already taken the limit of blood that should be taken from this woman. When your appetite is factored in, I do not think it would be wise for you to drink from her. I can still go out and find someone for you, if you wish, though."

"Thanks, that would be great."

Whew! Really dodged a bullet there.

* * *

The next evening, Evra stood guard at the apartment of the gentleman Mr. Crepsley was following while I was assigned the duty of following Mr. Crepsley. I had cooked him breakfast in hopes that we could have our first real conversation since our arrival here. He seemed more cheerful than usual as he came into the dining area.

"Good morning, Arden!" I still thought it sounded weird when he said that at night, but I replied with a good morning anyway. "Where's Evra."

"Christmas shopping, I believe. He's gotten really into it lately, so he's trying to get everything done now before the big rush. It's still only the twentieth. What would you like for Christmas, Mr. Crepsley?"

He shook his head adamantly. "I need nothing."

"If you say that, then I'll just get you an ugly sweater. I'm sure you don't want the sweater I've dreamt up in my devious mind, so you better think of _something_."

He stared at me for a few minutes, I think trying to figure out whether or not I would carry out my threat. "Christmas is the twenty-fifth, correct?" I nodded, curious as to why he was asking. "My business may have come to an end by then."

"Do you ever intend to tell me why we're here in the first place?"

"No, I do not."

I felt my pleasant mood plummet and my face fall, then concentrated on my food. "Fine. There's going to be some sort of Christmas celebration hosted by the hotel, and Evra and I would like to attend, if it's not too inconvenient."

"That fine." He seemed to notice my now less-than-cheery mood. "Why are you so upset?"

Did he really not get it? "I trust you more than probably anyone else in the world, yet you don't even bother to give me information about why you ran all the way over here to this particular city to go who-knows-where at night. You think I haven't noticed that something's up? You constantly hound me about blood and last night_ I_ had to remind _you_. I've always known that you're a fairly secretive person, and I get that. But is it too much to ask for a little trust? I'm your assistant!"

"I did not realize it bothered you." He left it at that and exited the room shortly after without answering my question.

* * *

The next few nights he just followed the overweight man around and did nothing of note. Evra and I sat together, out of earshot enough to whisper. "What will you do if he does try to kill the man?" Evra asked me.

"I can't kill Mr. Crepsley. I'll probably just jump him and distract him long enough for that guy to make an escape. And I'll take whatever Mr. Crepsley dishes out from there. I only have one request. If it comes to that, Evra, I want you to run. Don't wait for me, just run and try to get back to the Cirque somehow."

A couple nights later, my worst nightmare came true and Mr. Crepsley was making his move. I turned to the snake boy to give my explicit instructions. "Don't follow me no matter what you see or hear. I suppose you could stay in the area for a while, so long as you don't enter the building. If this turns out to be a false alarm, then I'll just meet you here, at the entrance." I had already wasted enough time, so I unceremoniously left Evra and entered the building.

It wasn't difficult to follow the vampire's dusty trail. The difficult part was avoiding the scenario where I got caught. I took my squeaky thrift store shoes off and padded around in socks, hoping that I would avoid the attention of Mr. Crepsley until I could see what he was up to.

I stepped into a room full of animal carcasses, where Mr. Crepsley was keeping close tabs on the man, and felt thankful that because of all the carcasses, there was no way Mr. Crepsley could smell me. Pair that with the noise of the device keeping this room refrigerated, that covered any noise I was making, and I was in good shape.

I stood there, muscles tight, when I saw a rusty knife laying next to me, and felt zombie mode creep in. My hand was reaching for that knife with the intention of stabbing Mr. Crepsley with it. No! I not only didn't want to kill the vampire, I was physically incapable. It would be a suicide mission to try and murder him. I managed to get control of my left hand to have it restrain my right, although this action gave me the biggest headache you could imagine. For a brief moment during my mental struggle, I saw Darren going after Mr. Crepsley with the knife. I knew then that I couldn't follow in Darren's footsteps. I refused. After a few seconds, zombie mode passed, leaving me with a sheen of sweat, and admittedly, a twinge of pride. I had beat it again after all.

But I had to focus on the current situation. I scanned the room, and I saw something above Mr. Crepsley's head, in the rafters. "Mr. Crepsley!" Then the fighting ensued.

**Hey guys, sorry about the long wait, it is entirely my fault. Hopefully all of you are still reading, and if not, well I guess I have no one but myself to blame. Anyway, I do have a request. I've been reading a couple other fanfictions and the authors have requested their readers to draw their characters on deviantart. I think that's an amazing idea! I'd love to see how anyone who reads this imagines Arden. So, if you are an artist, unlike me, and would like to draw Arden, please do, and be sure to send me the link. Thanks, and I'll try to update soon.**


	29. Chapter 30

I sprinted as fast as I could over to him, so instead of landing on the vampire, the fearsome creature landed on me.

The creature got up faster than any human could, and every part of him was stained unnatural shades of purple and red. He wasn't human. I stood up quickly, ready to face the creature again, when it came running at me ready to head butt me, and head butt, he did, sending me flying across the room to collide into a support beam. After I plopped to the floor, I shakily stood, glaring at the not-a-vampire-but-definitely-not-a-human thing. For now, my adrenaline prevented me from feeling the extent of my injuries, but I only had a small window of time before that ceased. And until then, I would concentrate on fighting the creature.

He came at me again, but this time, I was ready, and we started a hand-to-hand combat of sorts. My moves were extremely slow and clumsy compared to his, but for now, they were enough to stave him off and prevent him from further injuring me. Until, that is, he sent a fist flying for my head and as I ducked, I realized that the first fist had been a distraction for the second one coming at my face. I was only able to move enough for him to get me in the stomach, instead. This sent me up into the air again, to crumble to the floor.

The purple man sneered at me, then jumped up to the windows, smashed one, and smoothly made his escape. Mr. Crepsley was swearing up a storm as he jumped after the creature that had attacked. As he was listening up there, he must have realized that there would be no catching the fiend and he climbed down, looking utterly defeated. He had been in shock throughout most of my face-off with the creature, and had probably been afraid to intervene, because there was a chance of him hurting me.

The adrenaline was gone now, replaced only by pain and humiliation of my easy defeat. Breathing was pure agony, as I noisily let air in and out of my lungs. I knew for sure that I had some broken ribs, and possibly a little internal bleeding. Of course, it was nothing that my vampiric body wouldn't have taken care of in a matter of days, but until then, I would have to deal with it. But more importantly, I would have to deal with the disappointment and anger of Mr. Crepsley.

He walked very slowly and deliberately towards the human in the room, knocked him out, and then his face rapidly turned towards me with the look of a demon. I decided then that I wouldn't have him help me up so, with shaking arms, I pushed my torso off the ground, and my legs followed. Standing, as it turned out, was less painful than lying there. Mr. Crepsley ran at me faster than I had ever seen him move before, grabbed my shoulders, and shook me around. "You idiot! You interfering mindless fool!" I had never heard him raise his voice this loud, but I was in no position to complain. "Do you realize what you've done?" He'd gone quiet now, and the shaking was over.

"Not…entirely. I didn't…know…what was…going on." Then, to my utter embarrassment, a small trickle of blood came out of my mouth, slithered to my chin, and dripped to the floor. He saw this and stopped his rant. I had always thought of myself as an intelligent person, but here I had been a complete idiot. Yes, maybe I had thought that I - a scrawny half vampire - could take on whatever wanted to harm Mr. Crepsley or the now-unconscious man. Of course, I had been dead wrong. "I'm…sorry."

We sat there together for a while, just me and the vampire, until my curiosity got the better of me. "Who was…that?"

"What were you doing here, you idiot?"

"I saw the…murders on TV…and you seemed…to be the only…lead we had." It was beginning to get easier to talk with my damaged ribs.

"You thought I was the murderer?" I looked away, ashamed that I had even toyed with the idea, despite that fact that I had wanted him to be innocent. "I believed you were smarter than that, Arden. Do you have so little faith -?"

"I had every faith in you! I never wanted you to be the murderer and throughout our investigation, we found no evidence saying otherwise. But you have to understand that we had no other leads. 'Who else could commit this atrocity but a vampire?' we asked ourselves. Then you started following him," I gestured towards the unconscious man. "I honestly didn't know _what_ to think. Then when you pair that with the fact that you haven't been yourself lately and your refusal to tell me anything, I had no choice but to follow in order to prevent any further death." I stopped talking for a moment. "It didn't occur to me tonight that you were aware of that thing's presence." I paused for a minute, embarrassed. "I was afraid for you."

"I knew of his presence, yes. I suppose apology is in order for both parties. I will admit here and now that perhaps I should have trusted you."

"Thank you. I'm sorry that I didn't ask you about the murders."

Mr. Crepsley later explained the origin of the vampaneze, not skipping out on any of the details, including that vampaneze could be just as noble as vampires. I hated to say it, but I could see what they were saying, when they said they believed it was nobler to drain dry. They weren't evil. Then he explained that Murlough belonged in a loony bin for vampaneze, and I realized what he was trying to do: protect people.

"The entire time we were following you, I had hoped you were innocent – both of us did. After all, you're not perfect, but you're what I've got," I added with a small smile.

"Both of us?" he asked.

"Evra and I. You didn't think I wouldn't involve Evra, did you?"

"I suppose I am not surprised."

We had been walking for a while now, and were coming around the corner where I had left Evra, when we came across Murlough the vampaneze again. He had Evra tied up, having taken his time, believing that Mr. Crepsley and I would be longer than we had been. Upon seeing us, his eyes grew wide and began running, with Mr. Crepsley and I hot on his tail.

"He will not be able to flit until he leaves the city limits," Mr. Crepsley explained. "If we can reach him before then, we may have a rematch."

I only nodded as a response. I was in reasonable shape, but a full vampaneze and a full vampire were extremely difficult for me to match. We were quickly approaching the city limits, and most humans here were asleep, so we wouldn't draw attention to ourselves. It was clear that Murlough was getting ready to flit when Mr. Creplsey, who was clearly in better shape than our chubby adversary, kicked in a final effort to outrun Murlough, and tackled him to the ground. Evra was sent flying up in the air and I sprinted to catch him.

I noticed that Mr. Crepsley and Murlough weren't going anywhere for a minute so I checked on Evra. He was fine – minus a few cuts and bruises. I began coughing and tasted a little blood come up as a result of my earlier match with Murlough. I glanced at the two men again, still locked together and moving in a fierce battle that would have been too fast for the human eye to see. Neither of them had a weapon, and once I made this observation, I remembered the rusty knife from earlier. I checked in my hoodie pocket, where I had ended up placing it, and it was still there. This battle could end up resting on me, or at least, the knife.

I ran over to the fight, trying to find the right time to give the knife to Mr. Crepsley, but soon realized there wouldn't be time for that. In the event that Mr. Crepsley threw Murlough to the ground, or incapacitated him at all, it would only be a matter of seconds before the vampaneze would get up again. The opportunity soon presented itself when Murlough broke away from Mr. Crepsley and grabbed me in a choke hold with his strong arms. "Let me leave, or the girl dies," he sneered. I glanced up to see that Murlough was utterly concentrated on Mr. Crepsley's look of fear and pain, and not on myself, I wasn't going anywhere, and my punches wouldn't hurt him. I quickly pulled the knife out of the pocket and stabbed Murlough in the chest. If it didn't go through his heart, it would at least hit an artery and he would bleed out in minutes.

He looked surprised at first and then angry. I could see in his eyes that he meant to kill me when Mr. Crepsley sprinted over and snapped Murlough's neck. The grip on my neck slackened and I was able to breathe again, although I hadn't been in Murlough's grip long enough for my vision to go fuzzy. I gasped and choked a little bit, and there would be bruises on my neck, but I was fine. Mr. Crepsley grabbed my shoulders and made me look at him, concern written all over his face. "Are you all right, Arden?"

"Yes," I rasped.

"Evra?"

"Yes."

With that, we headed back to the hotel.

* * *

Evra was showering when Mr. Crepsley had me sit on the hotel bed with him. He was surveying my numerous injuries when he began to speak. "I am aware that you may not want to hear what I have to say after you have played a role in ending a life, but I am extremely proud of you. I simply want to express that." I could see that he probably wanted to say more after that , but either couldn't seem to find the words, or was too embarrassed to express them. "Are you okay?"

"I feel a little numb, after stabbing Murlough, but as sick as it sounds, I think I'm going to be okay. It's bad, I know, but that's how I feel. Mr. Crepsley, could I ask a favor of you?" He nodded, curious. "Could you teach me how to fight vampires and vampaneze? What scares me more than Murlough, or killing, or anything else right now, is being in the same situation. I would have died if you hadn't been there, and I don't ever want to feel that way again."

"We may begin your lessons once we return to the Cirque."

I smiled. "I'm sorry again for suspecting you of being a serial killer."

"I am sorry that I did not trust you." He paused. "From now on, I will make a conscious effort to make you aware that I do trust you, effective immediately. I came here because Gavner informed me that a vampaneze was probably in the city killing people."

"I'm more curious as to why you took an interest."

"This is the city I lived in before I became a vampire."

I bit my lower lip, feeling like I had intruded into something private. "Thank you for telling me that –"

Someone knocked on our door. I glanced at the clock and noticed that it was now late morning, and it could be anybody. Thankfully, I had changed out of the blood-soaked clothes from earlier. I opened the door, and standing there was Debbie, Malcolm, and Darren. "Come in," I said quietly.

They shuffled in and saw Mr. Crepsley, and I realized that I would have to make an introduction. "Debbie, Darren, and Malcolm, this is my dad. Dad, this is Debbie, Darren and Malcolm." They all smiled and shook hands.

"I hope you are okay with me dating your daughter, sir," Malcolm said, generating a look of shock from Mr. Crepsley.

I sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you dad, but I know how you get about boys. Sorry Malcolm."

"Well that's awkward," said Malcolm.

In the end, everyone except Mr. Crepsley agreed to go to Debbie's house for dinner Christmas Eve. I arrived at the house, carrying gifts for everyone that I had purchased with money given to me by Mr. Crepsley. After dinner, everyone slipped out of the room to give me time alone with Malcolm. "Are you leaving tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry we don't get to spend any more time together, but the train leaves really early. I'm really happy we got to meet, though. You are one of the sweetest people I know."

"You're not like other girls, Arden, you really are something." I smiled. "You never know, we may see each other again someday."

"True."

"Maybe it's destiny," he said with a laugh, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I sorely hoped that we were not going to meet again if destiny was involved.

"Fate," I said firmly.

* * *

As we traveled in a train back to the Cirque, Evra fell asleep and Mr. Crepsley gave me a stern look. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was dating a human," I mumbled. "But I knew it had to be short-lived and I knew I had to be careful."

"I'm not upset that you were dating a human, but it would seem that I am not the only one who has troubles trusting others."

"I was afraid you would disapprove."

"No more than the average caretaker." It didn't occur to me until later that at that point Mr. Crepsley had the same look on his face my father had whenever I mentioned dating a boy.

End Book 3

**Author's Note: I know, I know, I'm a horrible person for not updating for so long, and I won't even insult you with excuses. Up next are Arden's adventures in vampire mountain.**


	30. Chapter 31

Arriving back at the Cirque, I quickly slipped back into the familiar routine that it provided. However, it seemed that Evra was determined to obliterate any chance at things returning to normal. "Arden, you need to learn more about this thing that takes over you. I think, when it tries to get you to kill Mr. Crepsley, you need to at least talk to _someone_ about it."

"No, I think this is the perfect time to ignore the problem. I can't explain it, Evra, but I get the feeling that it won't be a problem for a while. I don't think it's gone away forever, but for the time being, I'm safe."

"It doesn't matter if you've subdued it for now! What happens when it comes back? Maybe you _will_ end up killing or seriously hurting someone you care about."

"Who do you suggest I talk to? Mr. Crepsley – and actually, most people – would say that I was crazy."

He thought about it for a moment. "Maybe you should tell Mr. Tall. He's really knowledgeable, plus he's got a small library in his van that is filled with all sorts of weird old books."

With that, I resigned myself to asking Mr. Tall about the affliction I had come to call 'zombie mode'. However, he was not making this an easy task, as he was doing everything possible in his power to avoid me. While, under normal circumstances, this would sound crazy, Mr. Tall had done quite a few strange things as I had tried to approach him. These strange occurrences included pretending that someone had called him, or simply walking in a different direction very quickly. Given the theories surrounding his abilities to read minds, I was pretty sure he knew what I wanted to talk about, but refused to tell me about it.

I was about to completely despair, when I remembered what Evra had told me about Mr. Tall's library. It was then that I got the most reckless and stupid idea that had ever, for an instant, crossed my mind. This included stealing Madame Octa, which had not even really been my idea. I thought that I might be able to get the information that I needed by reading one of the books from Mr. Tall's small library. It would mean breaking into Mr. Tall's van – stupid.

* * *

That night, after the show was finished, I knew that Mr. Tall would be caught up with all sorts of things that would keep him busy for at least half an hour. Hopefully, this would give me enough time to page through a book or two. I swiftly stole for Mr. Tall's van, desperately hoping that it wouldn't be locked. Thankfully, it wasn't.

I had just sat down in front of the small book shelf in his van when I heard voices outside the door. I slid under the bed, trying not to cough as I inhaled the dust that had accumulated under it. "I don't understand why this visit is necessary. I told you that I have been avoiding her questions; she is none the wiser."

"I almost think it would be funnier for her to know everything, Hibernius – to see the look of defeat as she realized her situation is hopeless." It was the chilling voice of Desmond Tiny. I had yearned never to have to hear that voice again.

"She doesn't know that I –"

"Shhh! Hibernius, we have a guest." In a matter of seconds, Mr. Tiny's face was inches from mine, and I had nearly pissed my pants. "Arden, why on earth would you be in Mr. Tall's van hiding under the bed?" Before I had an opportunity to respond, he forcefully wrenched me out from under the bed, fully exposing me to his wrath.

"Arden!" Mr. Tall's voice wasn't livid, as I had expected it to be, but instead concerned.

"Hi, Mr. Tall," I replied lamely.

"Care to explain what you were doing here, Arden?" Mr. Tiny sounded irate and impatient. I hated the idea of being, once again, on the receiving end of his fury.

"I'd heard about Mr. Tall's library, and I just _had _to check it out."

"She really is like Darren," Mr. Tall said, probably attempting to mutter under his breath. It was times like these that I sorely wished I was not a vampire.

Mr. Tiny hissed as I replied, "Darren, you know about Darren? I met him on the trip, and I've had dreams about him – visions, even. I need to ask you about zombie mode!"

"Zombie mode?" both men questioned. It only then occurred to me that there was probably a different word for what I was experiencing. The look of confusion on both of their faces was enough to remind me of this.

"I can't control myself, I get a headache, and I see Darren doing the exact same thing I'm doing, while I'm doing it." I paused, considering all the possible consequences as to what I was about to say. "I think, for some reason, I'm supposed to do everything Darren was supposed to do. Somehow, he didn't fulfill his destiny, and now I'm supposed to." The looks on their faces were of absolute astonishment. "I sound crazy, don't I?"

"Hibernius, it would appear the girl is even more astute than either you or Larten anticipated." He turned to me, angrily. "That is not a good thing. However, I suppose – considering how much you've already ascertained – that you may as well know the rest. I'm not much interested in giving you your life story, nor do I believe you would like to hear it from me. So, with this in mind, I will let Hibernius take over this task. Hibernius, you know not to overstep. She cannot know everything."

"Arden, I'm afraid this is not going to be pleasant, but I will start from the beginning. Darren became a vampire the same year you did, only being a few years younger. I am not allowed to disclose to you what he did when he was a vampire, but I am allowed to tell you that he plays a large role in the future of the vampire clan. Darren was sent back to the past, for reasons I also cannot disclose to you, and he interfered. He prevented himself from becoming a vampire. But, because he was such an important person, this would have changed the future. The universe cannot allow this, so it has a backup plan. In the event that, say, Hitler were to be killed before he took over Germany, you can be assured that someone else would be born to do all that Hitler had done. They would not have to pay in the afterlife for his crimes, though, because they would have very similar experiences to yours. They would not have any control over themselves, and in the end, would probably relish the death that would release them from such a curse."

"Is that it?" I asked.

"Yes: essentially."

"You haven't told her all of it, Hibernius. I don't think anyone would begrudge her to know her family history." Mr. Tiny had that evil glint in his eyes that had come to be despised by me, and unnerve me.

"Arden." A small flush came over Mr. Tall's face and he looked absolutely ashamed.

"Tell her," Mr. Tiny ordered. "Just get it over with, or I will do it."

"Arden, I'm your father." I was at a loss for words. It couldn't possibly be true. "I know it's hard to believe, but I'm afraid that it is the truth."

Mr. Tiny smiled, delighted at the turmoil he had caused. "I suppose you two have a lot to talk about, and who am I to intrude? Goodnight, Hibernius. Goodnight, Arden. I have enjoyed this talk with you two: my son and my granddaughter." He left, his apparent need for chaos sated for the time being.

I had an even more difficult time believing that Mr. Tiny was my grandfather, than believing Mr. Tall was my father. As it sunk in, though, it became clear that it was more than possible. I had been given bits and pieces of his genes. Mr. Tall's hair was curly, while both of my parents had had straight hair. My hair was sort of wavy. Another indication that there was a possible genetic link between myself and Mr. Tall was my metabolism. Mr. Tall and I were both rail thin, while everyone in my family struggled with weight, my parents and Zula included. While the latter wasn't as large an indication, I saw no reason for Mr. Tall to lie to me.

All I could ask Mr. Tall was "Why?"

He sighed, shaking a little as he tried to find the words. "Darren was the son of Desmond Tiny, and my half-brother. After Darren's 'betrayal', my _father_," he said bitterly, "asked that I father Darren's replacement. He loved the fact that his own son would play a large role in the destiny of the vampire clan, just as he loves meddling with everyone's lives. Given how much you look like your mother, I'm sure that neither of your parents suspected a thing."

"How could he control who became Darren's replacement?"

"He has his ways."

"You're not being very helpful. I want to know when to expect this zombie mode to come back, and I came here to learn about it. If you don't have anything more to say, then I think I'm going to bed."

"It's actually a good thing we interrupted you when we did. You need to know that Darren's journals are inside that book case. You can't look at them, though. The results would be disastrous." I looked at him and nodded, preparing to walk away. "Just because I wasn't always around, doesn't mean I don't care, Arden. I have to tell you, though, that I am supposed to be a neutral observer."

I sighed. "Does anyone know that you're Desmond Tiny's son?"

"No, and I would prefer to keep it that way. I'm not especially proud of my parentage. There is one last thing you should know before you leave: I think you inherited one other thing from me. You said that you've had strange dreams and visions?" I nodded. "Arden, I think, with some honing, you may be able to see the future, like I can."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes. Along with your lessons of self-defense with Larten, I think you should try to meditate – I've found it helpful. However, I can't directly help you because –"

"Yes, I know, you have to be a neutral observer." About this, I was a little peeved.

He smiled sadly, revealing how aged he could very well be. "One of the hardest things for a parent is sitting by and doing nothing. That, and knowing that you've caused your child a great deal of pain. I know that, although I am not a better parent than Desmond, I care more than he does. If you want, you don't have to consider me a father, I know that I've never considered Desmond one."

I looked at him, and knew he could never be my father, at least not in my eyes. "You may not be my father, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends. I don't resent you for anything, Hibernius." Knowing that we shared some genes, it just felt awkward calling him Mr. Tall anymore.

A genuine smile broke into his face. "It appears that I've already one-upped Desmond."

**Author's Note: Okay, I want your genuine opinions on Mr. Tall being the father of Arden. Considering Mr. Tiny was the father of Darren, I thought this was befitting. Anyway, tell me what you think in a review, and the next chapter begins in book four: vampire mountain. **


	31. Chapter 32

Years had passed since I was first blooded by Mr. Crepsley, and it was strange to see the world around me aging as I stayed more or less the same. True, I was a little over a year older than when I met the vampire, and I probably was about fifteen physically, but I felt so stunted, especially compared to Evra. He was a young man now, no longer the teenage boy he was when I first met him.

I still remember the night Mr. Crepsley told me I would be going to the Vampire Mountain.

"Keep your head up, and keep breathing. If you hold your breath while you're fighting your opponent, you will tire much more quickly. Try to give a strong exhale when you punch your opponent." My lessons had been going quite well lately, despite the constant stream of criticism from Mr. Crepsley. At least, it was going better than the meditation. In that area, I was still at square one, unable to go into the trance-like state that would allow me to see the future. I hadn't even had any strange dreams lately.

I managed to land _one_ blow on Mr. Crepsley, my first one ever, but it only served to make me feel more inferior, which is why the reply from Mr. Crepsley was so odd. "Excellent, Arden."

"What?" I was incredulous and terribly out of breath.

"You managed to punch me once, which is more than many vampires can do. You have improved just in time, too, as we are going to Vampire Mountain tomorrow night." I stared at him with wide unbelieving eyes.

* * *

Now, though, as I was saying my goodbyes to Evra and the rest of the Cirque, his announcement had sunk in. Even more so when my least favorite person in the world showed up. "Hello, Arden! How is my favorite vampire?" I stared blankly at him. "I'm sure that you're excited for your upcoming journey, which is absolutely crazy, but then again you _are _a vampire. I knew one once who walked himself to death in sunlight, merely because someone had sneered at him for only being able to come out at night."

We shook hands out of propriety, although I'm sure he knew that I would rather kiss a rattlesnake on the mouth. I'm here to wish you a safe journey, although I'm sure you will survive. Someone as important as yourself surely won't die on the journey." I couldn't tell if it was a warning or an assurance. "Are my little people near?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully.

"Ah, yes, that's right. You didn't want to feed them." As he remembered this a very dark look passed over his face, but it passed quickly. "Perhaps I'll find them in their tent. I would like a word with you and Larten before you leave." Something in his voice told me that it wasn't a request, so I went to go wake the vampire.

As expected he was not happy to be woken so 'early' by me, but once I explained the situation, he was far less groggy. "I wonder what _he_ wants," Mr. Crepsley grumbled.

"If it's Desmond, then it probably isn't good. However, I'm not keen to invoke his wrath, so we'd better not keep him waiting."

We met Desmond right before we were about to leave, dressed in very plain, warm clothes. (I half expected Mr. Crepsley to wear a red sweater to the mountain.) As usual, when I came face to face with Desmond, I felt a little nauseous, but this time there was a little bit of something else in the background. In the back of my mind, I knew my second break from zombie mode was over and now I would have to begin living Darren's life, perhaps until I died.

"Ah, Larten, prompt as ever."

"Desmond." Mr. Crepsley was curt with the little old man. I simply gave the creep a stiff nod of greeting.

"You are all welcome to take a seat," Mr. Tiny informed us. However, everyone in the room refused his offer and choose to stand. Even Hibernius, who was Desmond's son, didn't appear to be at ease around his father. "I hear you two are taking off for Vampire Mountain." Mr. Crepsley simply nodded in confirmation. "This is the first Council you've been to in about fifty years, isn't it?" Desmond seemed to be almost taunting Mr. Crepsley.

"You are well informed." Once again, Mr. Crepsley was terse, and not very pleased with Desmond.

There was a knock at the door and two Little People walked in. My eyes were almost immediately drawn to one that had a limp of sorts, which struck me as odd considering I had never seen a Little Person with a limp before. For some reason, he was staring at me, too, and I felt a strange shudder of déjà vu come over me. Zombie mode was definitely coming back during this trip.

"I imagine the trip to Vampire Mountain is as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than ever. And, to be honest, I don't want any harm to come to my favorite half vampire in the world. It will be a dangerous road for young Arden. She is so tiny, after all." Now he was trying to taunt me.

"Arden can look after herself. She is a more than capable adversary for anyone or anything that should cross her path." I swelled with pride knowing that the old vampire had so much faith in my abilities.

"I'm sure she can, but the odds are stacked against her: she's young, she's small, she's a woman. I could go on and on. None of the least of her problems is that she's so _free-spirited_. A trait like that can get a young woman into a lot of trouble, especially on such a treacherous journey. So, with that in mind, I've assigned these two to be your guards."

"_Guards?"_ Mr. Crepsley looked absolutely livid. "They are not necessary. I have made the trip many times, and I am more than capable of keeping Arden out of harm's way. Besides, they would get in the way, and therefore I do not want them."

"I can assure you Larten, that they would never get in the way or slow you down. Besides, this is not a request. Don't worry, they will be allowed to pass into the mountain. All you have to do is ensure that they do not get lost in the snowy terrain."

He looked me up and down. "It's nice to see you since our last chat, Arden. I hear that you haven't shoved Hibernius out of your life, and I have to say that it's very big of you. As far as your training goes, I can assure you that it will do you good. Your future is set in stone. Just go with the flow," he said with a smirk.

The strange little man – my grandfather – bowed to each of us on the way out. Mr. Crepsley gave me a curious look. He would ask me questions later.

We headed back to Mr. Crepsley's van, and that's when I was bombarded with questions. "What was Desmond referring to when he spoke of conversations and shoving Hibernius out of your life? Is there a conversation between you two I was not present for?" Mr. Crepsley looked angry, curious, and concerned at the same time. Like a parent.

"There was one conversation. I don't want to talk about it."

One thing I loved about Mr. Crepsley was the fact that he knew when he shouldn't press any further. "Alright," he conceded. "I want you to know that if you want to talk about it, I will listen. I also want you to know that your training has been going well, and it has not been for naught." He was staring at me as if I were an enigma, or some sort of puzzle, that he was trying desperately to figure out.

"Your training wasn't the training he was referring to. He was probably right."

Once again, Mr. Crepsley looked insatiably curious, but moved onto a different topic, for which I was grateful. "You cannot wear shoes on this journey."

I looked down at the worn out sneakers I was wearing and mournfully took them off, as the vampire grabbed Madam Octa. "You're bringing her?" I asked uncomfortably. I still hated that spider with a passion.

He nodded. "I am bringing her for a friend." When he noticed the queasy look on my face he smiled a little. "You do not have to care for her if you do not wish to."

"Don't think that buttering me up will make my tongue any looser," I said jokingly, although I gave him a grateful look.

"In that case," he said with a smirk, "You will be caring for her for the duration of our journey."

"Butter away," I said quickly.

* * *

Weeks had passed since we had first departed from the Cirque and my teeth were chattering, but not from the cold. We had reached hard ground a couple days ago, which made deep, painful cuts in my feet. I didn't dare complain to the vampire for fear of being thought of as weak. I thought some rocks had even wormed their way under my skin.

That night, my fingers trembled as they dug the rocks out from under my skin, and my teeth were chattering loudly from the pain. The vampire peered at me. "It is not that cold, Arden."

"I know," I replied lamely.

His brow furrowed as he looked closer at me digging the rocks out. "Arden! How did you let your feet get into such a state?" He stormed away from the rock ledge we had claimed for the night, but came back after half an hour with two handfuls of herbs and leaves. "Come." He picked me up – piggy back style – and brought me to a nearby stream. "Wash the blood off." I did as I was told.

Later, we were back at the rock face, as he was picking the remainder of the rocks out of my feet. "What could have possessed you to keep your pain from me?"

"I didn't want to seem weak. You always talk about how vampire are proud and noble creatures…"

"That does not mean you need to lose your feet on this journey. There is a salve that will heal your feet, making them tough."

We continued on towards a station where we could have a nice fire and eat cooked meat. (Trust me, going hungry is _almost_ as bad as raw meat.) Then, I could tell that something was wrong. Mr. Crepsley had paused and looked very frightened. "I smell blood." He pulled me in a little closer to him in an effort to keep me safe from any imminent threat.

"Is it vampire blood?" I whispered timidly. Mr. Crepsley only nodded in response.

We were both silent enough that I heard something behind us just in time to whir around and swing my fist at it blindly. It came in contact with someone's face and I heard the distinct sound of bones being broken. It was too late when I noticed it Mr. Crepsley's poor friend Gavner Purl.

"Damn it, Arden, does it have to be every time?" he sputtered through blood and a broken nose.

Mr. Crepsley was even less happy than Gavner. "You were lucky to escape with only a minor injury. Had Arden had more training, or if I had landed a blow, we would not be having a conversation right now, we would be having a funeral. Pay attention to your surroundings," he grunted, gesturing to the blood pooled on the floor.

Gavner grimaced.

We had made our way to a safer area to sleep at and the two vampires were discussing what could have happened while I was trying my best to fix Gavner's nose. It was mostly a hash of very different theories from animals, to vampire hunters, to other vampires. We couldn't know for sure.

"I hate traveling alone, so I decided to come and travel with you guys. I suppose I should have thought twice before trying to sneak up on Arden again," he said sorely as he stroked his patched up nose. He lightened up a little bit, though, and asked "So how have you been?"

"Good."

"The sour old buzzard hasn't gotten you down?"

"Not so far," I replied with a smile. I shivered a little bit as a particularly cold gust of wind came through.

"Not coping well with the cold?" he asked.

"I'm not exactly built for it."

"Well," he said with a vampire smirk, "If you need someone to keep you warm tonight, you know who to ask."

Mr. Crepsley hit Gavner upside the head. "What did we discuss last time about propriety, Gavner?"

"She is _technically_ not underage anymore. She's about twenty now right?"

"Twenty-one," I corrected.

"See," he said with a grin.

"Nevertheless," Mr. Crepsley persisted, "I would prefer if you have a little more respect for the youth of my assistant. You'll have to forgive, Gavner."

"When do you plan on topping up?" the other vampire asked casually.

"Not until I've come of age, so it could be another fifteen or twenty years before I choose to do so. I'm not in any hurry. Although, I'm sure Mr. Crepsley is eager to get rid of me."

"She has picked up a few habits of mine, and I am only beginning to realize how irritating they can be." Mr. Crepsley gave me a look to say he hadn't forgotten our last conversation in his van.

"Which ones?" Gavner asked.

"The secretive ones."

Gavner gave one snorting laugh. "She's learned to beat you at your own game."

After that I left to fill the canteens at the stream and ran into some interesting friends.


	32. Chapter 33

The small pack of wolves by the river kept a close eye on me as I filled the canteens. I wasn't afraid of wolves; Mr. Crepsley was always going on about how wolves and vampires were related and how wolves liked vampires, so I figured I wasn't in any danger. In fact, it was almost as if they were fascinated by me and determined to learn more about my strange ways. So much so that they followed me back to our camp where I promptly fell asleep next to the two much larger vampires.

Long before any of us were due to wake up, I heard a ruckus coming from the wolves that woke me up. I opened my eyes and saw the little people closing in on the pack, threatening them. I jumped from my makeshift bed and threw myself between the two. "You are not going to hurt the wolves. Do you understand?" I asked the little people. One stared blankly at me while the other one, the one with the limp, seemed to understand implicitly. He and I - for some reason I felt like I should call him lefty! - shared some kind of connection that I couldn't fathom. He watched me more closely than the other one, calculating my every move.

By this time both the vampires had also gotten up and were watching the non-verbal exchange between myself and the other little person. Gavner simply looked confused while Mr. Crepsley looked on with an expression that almost seemed to imply he understood something important was occurring. However, thankfully, all matters were dropped as we prepared to continue our way to the mountain. As the wolves ran off Mr. Crepsley informed me that it was likely they had the same destination that we had, going to the mountain for leftover food from the vampires.

As we continued on our way, Mr. Crepsley gave me a look and began to let Gavner get ahead of us. He wanted to have a private conversation. "What happened between you and the little people earlier?" he asked.

"They wanted to eat the wolves and I refused to let them."

"I understood that much. However, there was something odd about the exchange with the one with the limp. Do you know him?"

"No. I've had very little contact with the little people since joining the Cirque. I never took the time to notice him." At this I glanced at the two little people who trailed behind us even further. "There's something different about him though."

Mr. Crepsley dropped the matter.

* * *

A few nights later we encountered a briar patch and I was put into a very awkward situation. It was quickly determined that we had to make our way through the patch, but to do so would require removing the clothing we had on, and I immediately flushed a very deep red when Mr. Crepsley and Gavner both began to remove their clothing. "Is this entirely necessary?" I asked.

Mr. Crepsley nodded, but then suddenly seemed realize why I might feel slightly uncomfortable. "Gavner," he ordered. "Arden is to remain behind us at all times, and you are not to turn around." At this, both men turned around and left me to take my shirt off.

Just as I was beginning to do this, both Mr. Crepsley and I noticed the boxers that Gavner was wearing and cracked up. They were absolutely horrible - yellow with pink elephants. At this I had already begun rolling on the ground with raucous laughter while Mr. Crepsley was beginning to smile. Of course, one Gavner revealed where he had received the underwear - from some woman - it was too much for Mr. Crepsley and he began laughing uncontrollably as well. Needless to say, stripping took considerably longer than any of us had intended.

Once I was in my underwear, we began the eventful trip through the briar patch, leaving every single member of our party scratched up, including the little people who had opted to keep their clothing on. Somewhere along the way, we encountered a piece of cloth in the thorns with dried blood on it. It would not have been so alarming were the source of the blood not a vampaneze. I smelled it and I remembered the sickening fight that I had had with Murlough, and the blood that had been spilled.

Once we reached the station that night, the other vampires were in a hot discussion about why a vampaneze would wander so close into vampire territory. Something definitely did not feel right about this situation. I wanted nothing more than to leave, but Mr. Crepsley made it implicitly clear that this would be impossible.

When the sun set again, the vampires began to scout ahead. I had assumed they would let me come along with them, but when I had started to leave with them, Mr. Crepsley said "Where do you think you are going? You cannot come with us. You would be a burden and I will not have you create a distraction for Gavner."

"I could hold my own against a vampaneze. Has my training for the past eight years been a total waste?"

"Larten, I'm sure that Arden would be just fine if she scouted with us."

"I have seen how easily distracted you are by my assistant. I also know that I will not be able to concentrate knowing that Arden is wandering around in the woods alone. Therefore, it makes more sense for her to stay here."

I glared at Mr. Crepsley as the men jogged out of the station, leaving me behind. I sat there most the day, bored out of my mind, trying to make a case for myself against Mr. Crepsley. Had I not been so angry with him, I probably would have started making dinner, but I was not in the mood to be doing any favors for him. I glanced at the sky, noting that the sun would be rising soon and they would be returning, hopefully reporting they had found a dead vampaneze.

I heard noises nearby - a sort of stumbling in the brush. I assumed it was Gavner, knowing how much noise he always made, so I stepped out of the station to greet him and complain to him about Mr. Crepsley. It wasn't Gavner that I found outside the station. An enormous bear stood just outside and began to attack the station just as I exited it.

"Shit!" I ran as fast as I could away from the bear, but for some reason it followed me into the forest.

* * *

**Mr. Crepsley**

I was very close to the station - with nothing to show for my day of scouting - when I heard a startled cry come from Gavner. I ran ahead to the station, finding it destroyed. "No!" I shouted. Both of us began to search through the rubble, desperately hoping we would not find her remains.

There was no sign of Arden anywhere: no blood, no body, nothing. We had both given up hoping, believing she had been kidnapped by the vampaneze, when we heard a ruckus in the woods not far away.

Following the noise, we found the source was a very large dead bear, impaled by one of the little people with the bone of its companion. I did not see Arden until I heard her whimper from the tops of one of the trees above. "What happened?" I demanded.

"That bear was crazy! It was foaming at the mouth and destroyed the station. Then it started chasing me and I hid in the tree. Then, the little people came back from hunting and tried to kill the bear. One of them was not so lucky, but that one down there killed it," she explained as she began making her way down from the large pine that she had been hiding in.

When she finally reached the ground, Arden turned to the little person and thanked them. Much to everyone's surprise, it actually responded. "You're….welcome….Name…Harkat Mulds."

All of us turned in shock towards the little person, but there was no time for us to linger.

We quickly found the dead, partially consumed body of the dead vampaneze. The dead body, rather than putting us at ease, made all us all even more concerned, considering the body was partially buried.


	33. Chapter 34

Harkat quickly explained his situation involving Mr. Tiny and his unnerving message for the vampire princes. As we slowly made our way towards the mountain, Gavner explained who the vampaneze lord was to me, and I began to get a headache and see a very clear, distinct face in my head and I had seen that face before. It was the face of the little boy who Darren had been friends with. This, to me, was even more disturbing than knowing Harkat's message.

The more Gavner talked about Mr. Tiny, the more my stomach began to churn uncomfortably, especially knowing that I was related to the most evil being to have ever walked the earth. Every time Gavner so much as mentioned Mr. Tiny, I would flinch a little bit and Mr. Crepsley was beginning to notice.

Although I wasn't usually one to follow gut feelings, I knew down to the core of my being that I was irrevocably tied to this entire disaster, just as I believed Darren had been. Little did Mr. Crepsley and Gavner know that the person who might have been their champion and may have the ability to change the course of events was not doing such a hot job right now. "Arden, you do not look well," Mr. Crepsley commented.

"I'm fine," I insisted.

"You have broken into a cold sweat, you have grown too pale for even a vampire, not to mention the fact that you are shaking."

"It's just a headache." I stared him down and eventually he turned his head away in disgust and continued on a ways ahead of Gavner and myself.

Gavner looked at me curiously. "He worries about you, you know."

"I do know, and I hate to keep things from him, but there are things he cannot know."

"And why not?" Gavner demanded.

"He would never look at me the same, again, for one thing. To be honest, that is the sole reason for my silence, other consequences be damned."

"I don't think that Larten could ever despise you, as you seem to think he would, and I know for certain that I could never."

"You say that now."

* * *

There was very little conversation between any members of our little party until we reached the mountain, which suited me just fine. I was still trying to comprehend my entire situation and any possible role I may play involving the Vampaneze Lord. As we roamed the halls of the mountain, approaching the entrance, my headache returned and I saw things that were every bit as sickening as last time. There were very wispy images now of Vampaneze running around through the halls, and although I knew they were not real, my pulse went up anyway. Mr. Crepsley looked at me, noticing the change, but chose not to comment.

Needless to say, the guard did not recognize me, and looked a little surprised to see such a young half-vampire in the mountain, and even more surprised to see that I was female. Nevertheless, we all made it through – even Harkat – without much of a fuss. Sitting down and eating bat broth – one word: eww – Gavner seemed rather fixated on asking the little person everything he could about the little people. With Gavner's enthusiasm, I almost didn't notice an older vampire approaching us.

He and Mr. Crepsley greeted each other very warmly – in fact, I doubt it I had seen Mr. Crepsley greet anyone that warmly in all the years I had known him – and introduced everyone. Seba, who as it turns out blooded Mr. Crepsley, was incredulous upon meeting a talking little person and an assistant of Mr. Crepsley.

"So, Larten, you are full of surprises tonight. Shall I tell Gavner and Arden about the time you tried to steal my best wine?" Upon hearing this story a huge smirk played on my lips. Mr. Crepsley saw this and understood immediately that this would be used as blackmail later on.

Madame Octa was introduced – good riddance! – and we were shown to our quarters where I ended up sleeping in a room alone in a coffin.

The next night, I began to become thoroughly confused by the vampire way of life. I had questioned Mr. Crepsley incessantly about it when I was first blooded but even now there were still aspects of it that I did not understand. One of which was why there were so many men, but no women. However, I was much more interested in why Mr. Crepsley couldn't tell the princes about myself and Harkat.

I had asked Seba this and was about to ask another question when Mr. Crepsley cut me off. "Arden, you ask too many questions. I apologize, Seba, she never ceased when I first blooded her."

"There is nothing wrong with asking questions, Larten. And, I must say, from what I have observed of Arden, she is a much more well-behaved assistant than you ever were. Have you ever considered dismissing her? I must confess that there were multiple instances while you were under my care that I considered it."

Mr. Crepsley flushed bright red at being chastised by his former teacher. He shot me a look that I understood perfectly well and came up with a good response for.

"I realize it is difficult Larten, but please strive to understand me. After all, you must know by now – being over two hundred – that women thrive off of secrets. They are as necessary as breathing." He shot me another look, calling out the bullshit I was giving him but I chose simply to ignore it. Meanwhile, the whole of the mountain began to stir in uproar as Harkat's message spread through the halls like wildfire. So, not wishing to be run over by all of the vampires much larger than myself, Mr. Crepsley and I opted to go get new clothing as most of what we had worn on our way here was more or less ruined.

Try as I may, I was having a lot of difficulty finding clothing that would fit me in the storage area. There was not only the issue of being much shorter than most of the other inhabitants, but also the issue of being, without a doubt, the most slender. I had managed to find a green sweatshirt that would stay on my tiny frame, but pants were proving to be a much bigger issue. All of the pants were either too long or too large. Much to my embarrassment, another vampire rushed into the room just as the pants I had thought might fit, fell to the floor. Of course he noticed.

I immediately pulled them up, glad that the other vampire had only seen my underwear, but this was enough to make both he and I turn bright red and for Mr. Crepsley's normally morose expression turn even more hostile. "Kurda?" So Mr. Crepsley knew this other vampire? This would most likely mean he would have no problem chewing him out.

"Larten?" Kurda stammered. He chose to ignore the humiliating position we had all just been in and pressed Mr. Crepsley about the little person, only to learn nothing more than he already had. "You must be the Arden Peterson that I have heard about. I'm Kurda Smahlt." We awkwardly shook hands as I held up my pants with my other hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I replied stiffly.

Mr. Crepsley and the thin blonde man began speaking as I was still rifling through clothes not far away and I eventually found a pair of pants that fit. Through eavesdropping, I learned that Kurda Smahlt was very knowledgable about the vampaneze and about to become a prince. "Why don't the others approve of you?" I interjected.

"Arden," Mr. Crepsley sighed. "What have I told you about eavesdropping."

"I reserve the right to listen in on anyone who has seen me half naked." I returned to the male vampires and looked at Kurda expectantly, but Mr. Crepsley answered for him.

"Kurda is young, being only about 120 earth years old. This makes him the youngest prince in history and makes it more difficult for him to command the respect of the generals."

"You are not being entirely honest, Larten. There is a lot more to it than that. Exhibit number one," he began. "What do you think," he asked, as he flexed his biceps.

"They are almost as small as mine." This got a disapproving look from Mr. Crepsley, but he had always taught me to be honest.

Kurda laughed. "One of the reasons the other vampires are upset is because I am not quite the strong man that usually becomes a prince. I was put into the position because of my brains. This, along with the fact that I consort with vampaneze has made me unpopular. However, fifty-four percent of the generals seem to like my idea of reuniting with the vampaneze."

"You disapprove Mr. Crepsley," I noted. It wasn't a question.

"Well, what do you think?" Kurda asked, his blue eyes genuinely seeking my opinion. This, among vampires, was very refreshing.

"Whatever maintains peace between the two clans has my support. There are a few changes to the vampaneze that I would prefer to have implemented, though. For instance, I find the way they allow their psychotic members run amuck incredibly distasteful. I would be cautious, but there is nothing wrong with trying. You would have a great deal of difficulty convincing the vampaneze to stop draining their victims, though."

Kurda nodded. "Larten, you have a very smart assistant. Perhaps you would like to help me with the negotiations someday, Arden. What vampires need are a few smart diplomats who know how to keep their cool. Vampires like that are, unfortunately, few and far between." He gave me a genuine smile and his blue eyes shone happily. "We will have to have a nice long conversation another time but for right now, I need to answer some questions and then go get briefed on the matter."

As Mr. Crepsley and I left, he gave a 'hurm!' as I watched Kurda walk away. "I suppose you are infatuated with him, now?"

"Mr. Crepsley, please stop acting like an old mother hen. Besides, I have much more important things to worry about right now than being charmed by Kurda Smahlt."

* * *

I was in the midst of a debate with Mr. Crepsley. "I would not count on the Vampaneze Lord being a myth. While Mr. Tiny is known to lie, I doubt he would lie about something this large. Besides, Seba believes that what he said was true. That is good enough for me." Before the conversation could be taken any further, Kurda came and offered to give me a tour. I relished the opportunity to avoid further argument with my teacher, because he was becoming more agitated by the day, undoubtedly worried about what the vampire princes would have to say about me.

We were touring and Kurda began talking about his maps. I'll admit I was fascinated, not so much by the hobby itself but that a vampire would pursue something like cartography as a hobby. While I was very happy as a vampire, one thing I had always missed was the ability to have an intellectual conversation with someone. "I boring you, aren't I?" he asked.

"On the contrary, I find your interest in cartography refreshing. I was under the impression that no vampires had intellectual pursuits. Mr. Crepsley is intelligent, but he would always criticize me when I would try and continue my education on my own."

Kurda's face lit up at my interest. "How old were you when you were first blooded?"

"Thirteen. It's been close to ten years since I've been blooded so I'm probably about twenty-three now and my education should be fairly comparable to a normal human of that age."

"That's very young to be blooded. Still, looking at you it's hard to believe that you are only about fifteen."

"I matured early and I believe that has been the only reason that Mr. Crepsley has tolerated me."

He laughed. "You're a lot like him, you know, at least in your demeanor. But I will give you one thing: you seem to be a lot more open minded than Larten." I smiled at the compliment. "Despite the similarities, I do find you to be a lot more pleasant to talk to than Larten."

"Thank you." I realized that he was attracted to me and to be quite honest, I didn't know what to do about it. I hadn't been in an even slightly romantic relationship since Malcolm. Sure, Gavner and I had joked but it had only been jokes and he would never try anything with me because he was friends with Mr. Crepsley.

As I stood there, unsure of what to do, Kurda leaned in and kissed me. I stood there, frozen, opening my mouth but unable to say anything. "I'm sorry," he stuttered. "That was totally inappropriate." And, continuing to stutter, he left me there in the empty hall, alone.

I sighed, and instead of running after him and making him feel more embarrassed, I decided to head to the sporting hall.


End file.
